Was Tony Blair right or wrong to invade Iraq?

A blog by correspondent Keith Wilkinson

It's a burning issue on the streets. Was Tony Blair right or wrong to invade Iraq?

For ITV News Central over the past year, I've spoken in Birmingham and in Nottingham - at random - to something like 180 people on this subject. And for the great majority of people I approached, it was a resounding WRONG.

Those who defended the actions of the former Labour Prime Minister were strikingly in a minority. Some who did back Blair said something had to be done to stop the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Some said we had to help the oppressed peoples of Iraq. And others said the decision could only be criticised today - 13 years on - with the benefit of hindsight.

They argued Tony Blair "faced a tough call" back in 2003.

His intervention at the time along with US President Bush, they said, appeared to be the right thing to do. But these people were greatly outnumbered by those who held the opposite view.

Most people were quick to say - "wrong" or "definitely wrong" or, in one case, "one billion per cent wrong". Seldom, in 42 years of doing street vox pops, have I come across views so full of passion and anger on one subject. And seldom have I come across such clear-cut views from the public, although a few did argue it was far too complex an issue to answer with just a simple "right" or "wrong".

One man in Birmingham clearly agonised over his answer. Saying "wrong", he felt, implied lives in our armed services were lost for nothing.

"And that's why I think we should give him (Blair) the support."

Another man who wrestled with the complexities said there were reasons to say the British intervention was right.

"People were dying and it needed sorting," he said. "But then it was wrong because we have a whole mess of problems now."

The mother of a soldier who had served in Iraq (and survived) said Blair was right.

"He (her son) said somebody needed to stop what was going off out there."

A woman in Nottingham who said she was speaking as a Christian said in her eyes most wars were wrong. But, she said, terrorism needed to be stopped - as did Saddam.

"But it hasn't made the world a better place, has it."

A Muslim man in Nottingham was deeply worried about the impact he thought the war had had on the Muslim world - both locally and internationally.

His view: "Communities have become much more polarised since the Iraq War. Things are getting better. But it has created a lot of suspicion. And maybe, sometimes, hatred."

Tomorrow when Sir John Chilcot publishes his report, passions will be raised again. But will it give people the answers they are looking for?