Blair finds manner of Saddam hanging ‘completely wrong’

In his first engagement since returning from a New Year holiday in Miami, Blair said he would speak about the execution next week.

Downing Street declined to say when and how Blair would make his comments on Saddam’s hanging.

“In terms of what he will say next week, we don’t think there are going to be any surprises on where he stands,” a spokeswoman said on Sunday.

“He supports the inquiry by the Iraqi authorities. He does believe that the manner of execution was completely wrong, but this shouldn’t lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam committed, including the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.”

Also, Treasury chief Gordon Brown— likely to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister by September—said that any future government had lessons to learn from the aftermath of the Iraq invasion and that he would not shy away from criticising President George W Bush.

In an interview to the BBC, Brown acknowledged mistakes had been made in planning over Iraq and said he believed the ideological battle for the hearts and minds of young Muslims was as crucial as the battle against communism in previous generations.