Blair reveals Iraq pledge to Bush

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has told an inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq that he privately assured George Bush, the US president at the time, that "you can count on us", eight months before the war. While Blair stopped short of saying he had promised Bush unconditional military support in early 2002, as critics claim, he said he had always agreed that Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, had to be dealt with. "I accept entirely I was going to be with America in handling this," he told the London inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war, describing conversations between himself and Bush in summer 2002. "What I was saying to President Bush was very clear and simple, you can count on us, we are going to be with you in tackling this. But there are difficulties." The private note to BUsh remain secrets, despite calls for it to be published by John Chilcot, the inquiry chairman and a former civil servant.