Well... We're Wai-ting!

Blair should apologise for handling of war, says poll

Tony Blair should use tomorrow's Commons debate on the Butler report to repair his damaged reputation by apologising for his handling of the war in Iraq, an opinion poll suggested yesterday, as Michael Howard moved to distance himself from the conflict.

The prime minister last week said he took responsibility for errors and had searched his conscience. No 10 aides said an apology would be interpreted as admitting he had been wrong to go to war, which he repeatedly denies.

As Labour pounced on the Tory leader's claim that he would not have voted for the US-led war if he had known that it rested on faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons arsenal, the poll suggested that voters share the political elite's doubts and uncertainties about the conflict.

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