John Chilcot: Tony Blair's actions over Iraq War 'caused long-term damage to politics'
Tony Blair caused long-term damage to trust in politics by taking Britain to war in Iraq, Sir John Chilcot has said.
In his first public comments since publishing a damning report into the Iraq War in July, Sir John said Mr Blair put forward a case for war that went beyond the "facts of the case", and the resultant damage caused would take years to repair.
Speaking to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, Sir John said: "I think when a government or the leader of a government presents a case with all the powers of advocacy that he or she can command, and in doing so goes beyond what the facts of the case and the basic analysis of that can support, then it does damage politics, yes."
Sir John also said that he felt "concern and sympathy" for bereaved families of service personnel killed during the conflict.
"We were of course in running touch with them," he said. "in the outcome, they say that they are more than satisfied despite the length of time [in publishing the report]."
The Chilcot Report, which was published after a seven-year inquiry, found that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein posed "no imminent threat" at the time of the 2003 invasion.
The report also found that the conflict was launched based on "flawed" intelligence.
Sir John came under intense scrutiny and criticism for the number of well-publicised delays in publishing the report.
He told senior MPs on Wednesday that if the inquiry had a significantly bigger staff, some of the original material might have been processed more quickly.
"I don't think it's a matter of saving years or anything near it, but we could probably - and with hindsight would have - asked for a bit more resources at the outset."
Sir John said Mr Blair's decision to describe the threat Saddam Hussein's regime posed as "imminent" was the "best possible inflection" of the evidence he had.