Tony Blair has given a qualified apology for his role in the 2003 Iraq war, conceding it contributed to the rise of Isis and admitting he had not fully understood the chaos that would follow the removal of Saddam Hussein.
The former Labour prime minister also admitted the war was based on faulty intelligence in what is seen as his most comprehensive mea culpa since the conflict. He said: “I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning and certainly our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.”
Asked by CNN if the war was the “principal cause” of the rise of the Islamist militant group Isis he replied: “I think there are elements of truth in that.