Blair adviser facing Iraq inquiry

The Iraq war inquiry will seek fresh answers on Tony Blair's role in the build-up to the invasion when it hears evidence from the ex-Prime Minister's top foreign policy adviser.

Sir David Manning is expected to be questioned over suggestions Mr Blair and George Bush may have "signed in blood" a hardening of their approach in private talks at the US president's Texas ranch.

A subsequent meeting at the White House, at which the leaders are alleged to have agreed on the invasion whether or not weapons of mass destruction were found, is also likely to feature.

Sir David, who was at Mr Blair's side throughout the period before being made the UK's ambassador to the US, will be the first witness in the second week of the inquiry. Last week, Foreign Office officials repeatedly told the inquiry, sitting in central London, that British intelligence had no evidence of any connection between the Iraqi regime and al Qaida.

But Sir Christopher Meyer, Sir David's predecessor as ambassador, said Mr Blair deliberately linked the two and first cited the case for regime change the day after the April 2002 ranch talks. "To this day I am not entirely clear what degree of convergence was, if you like, signed in blood at the Crawford ranch," Sir Christopher told the inquiry.

Asked previously if Mr Blair had signed up in principle to war plans at Crawford, Sir David said: "If he did, he didn't do it in my hearing... He didn't talk to me as a Prime Minister saying to me, 'I've made up to mind.. we're going to war with Iraq'."

A five-page secret memo is reported to exist which documents the alleged deal made at the White House meeting on January 31, 2003 in apparent contradiction of later statements made by Mr Blair to Parliament that Iraq would be given a final chance to disarm. The document is among those which Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has demanded be made public amid concerns that restrictions placed on the inquiry will mean they remain secret.

Mr Clegg, who raised the issue with Gordon Brown in the Commons last week, has written to the Prime Minister urging him to lift a wide-ranging Whitehall right to veto disclosure.