Alistair Campbell defends Blair's war decision
Alistair Campbell defends Blair's war decision
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Sunday, 07, Feb 2010 12:13
By Sarah Garrod.
In an emotional interview on the Andrew Marr Show Alistair Campbell has defended the decisions on Iraq made by the former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mr Campbell told the BBC interviewer that Mr Blair had not misled Parliament in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003, and described him as an "honourable man".
The former communications director for Number 10 appeared close to tears at times during the interview, and had to pause to recover himself. Just last month he appeared before the Chilcot Inquiry to give evidence over the UK's decision to invade Iraq.
Mr Marr particularly drove questions on Tony Blair's claim Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Mr Campbell responded that the former-PM had not mislead parliament, and said "I know the care that we took".
He also told Sky News this morning that: "Tony Blair is a very compassionate man. There won't be a day in the rest of his life when he doesn't think about the deaths of British soldiers and Iraqis."
Mr Campbell also told Mr Marr about the reports that Gordon Brown broke down in tears on the Piers Morgan show when asked about the death of his daughter Jennifer, saying that it was important for politicians in the run-up to the election to be "genuinely authentic", and he didn't believe the PM had planned to cry on the show.
He also told Sky News that it was important to remember that politicians were people too, saying: "I feel sometimes you're treated as if you're somehow devoid of humanity, you don't have feelings.
"I think the glib way people view these things is upsetting."