Blair primed for crucial verdict from Butler

Tony Blair paved the way for today's potentially critical Butler report on the accuracy of the intelligence on Iraq's banned weapons by insisting that the world was made safer by ending Saddam Hussein's dictatorship.

The prime minister spoke to reporters barely an hour after his office had formally received its copy of Lord Butler's inquiry. Aides were quick to say that Mr Blair was not shifting the goalposts away from the divisive issue of weapons of mass destruction.