Blair loses bid for closed-door hearing

LONDON, June 22 (UPI) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair lobbied to have an Iraq war parliamentary inquiry conducted behind closed doors, sources say.

Without naming sources, The Times of London reported Monday that Blair asked Gus O'Donnell, head of the British Civil Service, to conduct the hearing in private, fearing the inquiry could become a "show trial."

Blair's request has backfired, however, when it emerged that part of the inquiry, conducted by former career civil servant and diplomat John Chilcott, will be held in the open, the newspaper said.

Blair's efforts came as memos from 2003 written by his then-policy adviser David Manning came to light suggesting the former prime minister knew that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and decided with U.S. President George Bush on a start date for the war almost two months before the invasion.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg told The Times that Blair cannot appear behind closed doors and must speak about Iraq under oath or "people (will) feel this is just a grand cover-up for, after all, what was the biggest foreign policy mistake this country has made since Suez."