ALASTAIR Campbell heaped further pressure on Tony Blair by admitting he and the former Prime Minister should face prosecution for war crimes if the invasion of Iraq is found to be illegal. In a rare slip-up, the spin doctor confessed that if it was found to be unlawful, those who took the country into war “should be punished”. He then tried to squirm out of his comments, made during a debate on BBC1’s Question Time, insisting the war in 2003 was lawful.
Mr Campbell’s blunder came on the eve of Mr Blair’s appearance before the Chilcot inquiry yesterday. He was being quizzed by Burnley footballer Clarke Carlisle, a guest panellist. To huge applause Mr Carlisle, who has a cousin in the Army, questioned the transparency of Mr Blair’s appearance before the inquiry.
“I don’t feel comfortable with what I am reading,” he said.
“My cousin, Tyson Carlisle, is proudly serving Queen and country, putting his life on the line on a daily basis. I need to know he has been sent for a just and legal reason.” He added that document censorship meant “there is no transparency for me or x, y or z to see why we have gone to war”.
Mr Campbell told him: “I agree with that. If this was an unlawful war then the people who take the country into that unlawful war should be punished.” He then tried to wriggle out of pressure from host David Dimbleby on whether he and Mr Blair should be prosecuted if the inquiry found the invasion unlawful.
