Blair told war was illegal in 2002

TONY Blair was hauled back into the row over Iraq last night, amid claims he was warned that a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein would be illegal almost a year before the opinion was confirmed by his most senior legal adviser.

Senior Foreign Office sources said the Prime Minister was confronted with official advice questioning the validity of an invasion of Iraq on at least two occasions during 2002, but it did not sway him from his course.

Blair has consistently maintained that he never saw the legal advice prepared by Foreign Office staff as he was negotiating with the Americans over the best way of resolving the threat posed by Saddam.

The Prime Minister insisted that he took advice from his Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, whose own warnings about the legality of the conflict, delivered on the eve of the operation in March 2003, were finally published last week.

But Scotland on Sunday understands the Foreign Office advice was included in an "Iraq Options" paper drawn up for the government in advance of Blair’s summit with US President George Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002.