Blair to face Howard over Butler

Tony Blair will go head-to-head with Tory leader Michael Howard in a Commons debate on Iraq and the Butler inquiry next week, Downing Street has said.

A failure of the system

A government cannot go to war on a false pretext. Either Blair apologises - or there must be a change of leader

Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Butler Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction will be published at 1230 BST (1130GMT) today. You'll be able to find it to read for yourself at butlerreview.org.uk.

Butler report will contain no lethal 'silver bullet'

The six-month Butler inquiry into the war in Iraq reports today. The Times looks at some of the crucial questions.

Lord Butler has some easy conclusions to draw about Blair and the Iraq intelligence

The idea of presenting a report on the Nigerian uranium that doesn't send removal vans to wait outside 11 Downing Street is inconceivable at this moment. Will Robin Butler -- the man who would acquit Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken -- see his rôle as duty to citizenry or to incumbent masters?

Day Before Review of Iraq Intelligence, Blair Stands Firm

The British report is more perilous for Prime Minister Tony Blair than the U.S. findings were for President Bush.

One day before the potentially damaging publication of a major report into British intelligence in the period before the invasion of Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair today defended his still-contentious decision to send British troops to war against Saddam Hussein.

Whatever Butler's verdict, Blair will know no shame

Nothing better testifies to Blair’s lawyer instincts than his reluctance to admit he was wrong.

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.

The Butler Review - it's coming

The real question is how criticism will be directed at Tony Blair. Given the almost indecent haste with which Blair appointed Scarlett to MI6, and considering that Blair either lied about WMDs or was incompetent in his use/understanding of the material presented to him, then it seems almost inevitable that the Prime Minister must accept ultimate responsibility.

Blair defiant ahead of Iraq inquiry

Tony Blair brushes questions on the inquiry into intelligence about Iraq aside but defends his decision to go to war.