Tony Blair: Engaging with Gaddafi stopped Islamic State getting chemical weapons
Video report by ITV News International Affairs Editor Rageh Omaar
Tony Blair's decision to bring Colonel Gaddafi and Libya "in from the cold" may have prevented chemical weapons falling into the hands of the so-called Islamic State terror group, former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.
Mr Blair met former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in his desert tent in 2004, as the north African country began its return to the international community after years of isolation for supporting terrorism.
As part of the process, Gaddafi renounced weapons of mass destruction, bringing to a halt programmes to develop nuclear and chemical arms.
Giving evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Blair said he believed his decision to engage with Libya remained "important" in the present day, after IS - also known as Isil and Isis - established a presence in the country in the chaotic circumstances which followed Gaddafi's removal and death in the 2011 revolution.
Mr Blair told the committee that the Gaddafi regime had:
3,500 chemical aerial bombs
1300 tons of chemical weapon precursors
23 tons of mustard gas
Mr Blair also denied that Libyan involvement in the Lockerbie bombing and the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher had been set aside as part of efforts to bring Gaddafi on side.
"We raised the case of Yvonne Fletcher every time. We did not hold back on Lockerbie and Yvonne Fletcher," he said.
He pointed out that compensation payments for both crimes had been agreed under his Labour government.