Blair's only competition is Tom Hanks

Quote of the Day surely from Jackie Ashley in the Guardian this morning

Don't we know it all, already? As entertainment, the Chilcot inquiry is pretty good, in a rarified way. It marches on with its ­familiar cast. The strutters strut, the lawyer-types drip lawyerese, Tony Blair remains better at "doing sincerity" than anyone except Tom Hanks

It's B day

Yes the Day that everyone has been waiting for,judgement day for the former Prime Minister who faces the Chilcott inquiry to explain the decision making process as we went to war in Iraq.

Blair is a master of political intrigue and it will be interesting to see whether as in past occasions his charm and confidence will override the probing questions of the panel.

According to the Times he

is expected today to confess that he made significant mistakes in both the build up to the Iraq war and its aftermath

But it's also likely that he will justify his belief that he was right to send the troops in

Not dropped from an ivory tower-Goldsmith at the Chilcott inquiry

More crippling revelations at the Iraq inquiry and one wonders how deeper an effect this is going to have on the government.

Today at the podium the former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith who conceded that he did change his mind on the need for a second resolution to justify military action in Iraq on the eve of the conflict.

Despite the advice of other government advisers and having changed his own stance,he decided that there was a case for war even if the UN did not meet again to agree a second resolution.

So now the question is what on earth made him change hos mind other than political pressure from above.It's hard to imagine any other reason even though he told the inquiry that it was not dropped "from an Ivory tower".

The revelation that has just come out is that despite being prepared to debate the legality with the rest of the cabinet,they accepted his briefing note saying war was legal without debate.

Mr Blair and Mr Straw abandoned the law for politics

It's worth reflecting on what may well turn out to be a momentous day at the Chilcott inquiry.

Setting the tone for Tony Blair's Friday appearance,it appears that after yesterday's revelations,both he and his ministers went to war in Iraq despite repeated warnings from senior Government advisers that they had “no leg to stand on” legally.

Foreign office lawyers appeared adamant that that going to war without a United Nations mandate would be a “crime of aggression” and during the proceedings secret letter was declassified showing that ed that the then-foreign secretary,Jack Straw, told his chief legal adviser that he was being “dogmatic” by warning that war would be illegal.

As Nigel Morris writes in the Independent this morning,"Mr Blair and Mr Straw abandoned law for politics..."

Whilst Elizabeth Wilmshurst's evidence simply revealing utter ­contempt for international law within Blair's government.

Today sees former attorney general Lord Goldsnmith giving evidence and he will almost certainly have to explain why he choose to ignore all the legal advice thrown at him.

As Wilshurst said yesterday,"it was clear that the Attorney-General was not going to stand in the way of the Government.”

The main event of this inquiry is still very much to come.

This morning's papers are full of the return of Alistair Darling,not many of them complimentary.

I think that the Indy perhaps summed up yesterday's hearing at the Chilcott inquiry by its conclusion that he hasprepared the ground for Tony Blair.

Much as this unapologetic performance will enrage opponents of the invasion, none of it should be remotely surprising. Mr Campbell was never likely to throw up his hands and admit that Mr Blair was set on regime change in Iraq regardless of international law, or that he knowingly and deliberately exaggerated the intelligence warnings about Iraq's weapons.

says the paper but as they conclude

the main event of this inquiry is still very much to come.

"A peaceful solution was his motivation right through".

Some interesting things coming out of Alistair Campbell appearance at the Iraq inquiry.

His importance in the discussions is obvious.He was close to the security services and Tony Blair wanted him close and hand.He also describes his role as being unprecendented.

However it seems that certainly up until March 2003,Tony Blair was looking at a peaceful solution and there was a fundemental difference between his and George Bush's views on regime change.

According to Campbell,Blair was clear that "if the diplomatic route fails Britain would see it's responsibility" to pursure a military solution but added that "a peaceful solution was his motivation right through".

No conspiracy,just shambles on Iraq

The Economist's Bagehot column considers the Iraq inquiry and John Kampfner's piece in the Spectator.

He refutes the suggestion that there was a deal with Peter Mandelson on the grounds that

Mr Brown gave in on the privacy question, implicitly allowing Sir John Chilcot to hold most of his hearings in public. Mr Blair has already said that he is himself happy to be questioned in public

Instead the saga is put down to as he says

a parable of the dialectical weakness that has undone Mr Brown's premiership.
The prime minister made his announcement without proper consultation, either of other political leaders or other interested parties, such as current and former generals.

The price of loyalty

So according to John Kamphner in the Spectator,

Tony Blair is in debt to his New Labour friends for their efforts to get him off the hook

The main news is that Peter Mandelson's support was bought in return for protecting his old ally Tony Blair

Mandelson — on Blair’s behalf — set down specific conditions for the Iraq war inquiry. The deal, I am told, was explicit. Not only would the hearings be fully in private, but the committee would, as with Hutton, be manageable. Brown was instructed to ensure that the members of the inquiry would, in the words of one official, ‘not stir the horses’. Brown readily acquiesced. He was not in a position to do anything else. It was a done deal, even before James Purnell sent alarm bells through Downing Street with his resignation on the night of 4 June.