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Tony Blair is getting his retaliation in first as the Chilcot report looms.

It has been seven years in the writing and for those who have forgotten what it’s all about, it’s an inquiry into the Iraq War which should give Blair a good kicking.

It is due out on July 6 but already ‘friends of Blair’ - usually media-speak for Blair himself commenting in a non-attributable fashion - say our glorious former leader is expected to defend his decision to join in the invasion of Iraq by asking his critics to think through the consequences for stability in the Middle East had Saddam Hussein been left in power, capable of developing weapons of mass destruction.

They/he are/is also expected to argue the ultimate cause of the long-term bloodshed in Iraq was the scale of external intervention in the country by Iran and al-Qaida rather than failures in post-conflict planning.

So he’s still relying on the WMD fantasy line whilst ignoring the fact his actions helped create a power vacuum into which armies of extremists have since marched.

Why is Blair - or his friends - allowed to speak about a report before the British public who paid for it and suffered the consequences of his actions which led to it get a chance to see the document?

And why is he so worried about sticking his oar in any way?

(Image: David Cheskin/PA Wire)

It’s not like he faces jail time as a result of the Chilcot report or its findings no matter how damning. And the comments of Blair or his friends have got me wondering how damning it will actually turn out to be.

It’s a well used political tactic to preview a report bleakly which is then not so bad when it actually sees the light of day. But time will tell.

Whilst Chilcot has been working on his report since 2009, Blair has not been short of work himself, earning shed loads of cash thanks to jobs including that of the irony defining Middle East peace envoy.

He has also of late been doing his bit for the Brexit campaign by becoming a very visible part of the Remain camp.

How many ‘undecided’ people out there have seen Blair’s orange mug on the TV exhorting them to Remain in the EU and decided ‘Leave’ - and now.

As an aside, Blair has spent a lot of time slagging Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, recently comparing his own politics of ‘power’ to the politics of ‘protest’ of Corbyn.

Corbyn has not risen to the bait, although he is expected to issue a heartfelt apology from the Labour party to the British people about the Iraq war after the Chilcot report is published. I can’t wait to hear what the friends of Blair make of that one.