Blair loses sleep as he prepares for Iraq inquiry

London: Nervous Tony Blair has been working until as late as 3am, surrounded by piles of documents on the Iraq war as he prepares to give evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry this week.

The former prime minister has spent weeks poring over his Iraq files in an attempt to make sure he is not caught out when his handling of the war is scrutinised.

Blair has read and re-read hundreds of memos and reports as well as secret letters he wrote to George Bush the year before the war promising to ‘be there' with the United States if it came to military action.

His appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry is set to be one of the most gruelling public ordeals of his career. Sir John Chilcot and the four fellow members of his inquiry team have proved to be far more rigorous than expected. Some witnesses have struggled to cope with the forensic questioning of former envoy Sir Roderic Lyne.

Added pressure

Blair has the added pressure of knowing that several relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq will be present at Westminster's Queen Elizabeth II conference centre when he accounts for his actions.

Demand for places at Friday's hearing was so great that a lottery was held to allocate tickets.

In recent weeks, Blair has appeared to adopt new tactics in his attempt to defend his decision to go to war. There was widespread surprise when he suggested to television interviewer Fern Britton that he would have supported the war even if he had not thought Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction.

He is also likely to be asked to justify his statement to the Commons in September 2002, six months before the war, that it was "beyond doubt" that Saddam was developing WMDs. The claim was included in the dossier on Saddam's weapons.