Two weeks ago, in the course of an interview with the Observer, Tony Blair claimed that he had already said sorry for issuing false information about Iraq. This is what he said: ‘We’ve apologised for the information that was given being wrong.’
I have since ransacked government statements, but found no trace of any apology. Downing Street, when asked, has also been unable to shed any light on the matter. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Prime Minister’s claim was another of those lies which regularly drop from his lips.
Two days after the falsehood in the Observer, the Prime Minister made his annual speech to the Labour party conference. His aides pressed him to apologise, even planting the word ‘sorry’ in the final draft of his speech. But Tony Blair could not bring himself to utter the word. This is what he said instead: ‘I can apologise for the information that turned out to be wrong but I can’t, sincerely at least, apologise for removing Saddam.
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