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A SENIOR Welsh MP said last night he knew “for certain” Tony Blair and George Bush struck a deal to invade Iraq at their notorious Crawford Ranch meeting in 2002 – a year before war was declared.

Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary leader, said he had seen a confidential memo to that effect, although he would not divulge its exact contents.

Critics of the military action in Iraq have long suspected Mr Blair and President Bush came to an agreement at the president’s ranch in Crawford, Texas in April 2002, a claim Mr Blair denied in evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry last week.

Mr Llwyd said he had offered to give evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry himself, in private if necessary.

The Meirionnydd Nant Conwy MP said: “I think other things should have been pursued [at the inquiry], in particular the detailed conversation at the ranch in Crawford in April 2002.

“I do know that the deal was struck, I know for certain it was struck at that stage so just to pretend months down the road that no deal had been struck I think is unforgivable.

“I have offered to give evidence and Chilcot has said ‘I’ll come back to you’. At that stage I will have private discussions with him.”

When the document was leaked five years ago Mr Llwyd said the security services paid him a visit. He declined to comment when asked if he still had the document.

“What I do know for sure is that the deal was struck, incontrovertibly,” said Mr Llwyd.

“I’m sorry I am being cagey about it, I simply don’t want the plod knocking on my door again. It created a huge interest among the intelligence community and a section of the Met came to us.”

The Chilcot Inquiry continued its deliberations into the causes of the conflict yesterday with evidence from Clare Short, International Development Secretary at the time of the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Ms Short, who resigned later that year and has since left the Labour Party, told the panel the Attorney General “misled” the Government over the case for war.

She said she was not aware of Lord Goldsmith’s “doubts and his changes of opinion” over the issue.

Lord Goldsmith gave legal advice before Britain committed to going to battle against Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

Ms Short said: “I think he misled the Cabinet. He certainly misled me, but people let it through.”

In light of Lord Goldsmith’s “doubts and his changes of opinion” that have since emerged, Ms Short added: “I think for the Attorney General to come and say there’s unequivocal legal authority to go war was misleading.”

Ms Short claimed Lord Goldsmith was “leaned on” by former Prime Minister Tony Blair to agree that the war was legal.

Lord Goldsmith provisionally advised Mr Blair in January 2003 that it would be unlawful to invade Iraq without a further United Nations Security Council resolution.

But he changed his mind a month later after being persuaded to talk to senior US government lawyers and Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock.

“Lord Goldsmith said he was excluded from lots of meetings – that’s a form of pressure,” said Ms Short. “It was suggested to him that he go to the US to get advice about the legal position.

“You have got the Bush administration who have very low respect for international law. It seems the most extraordinary place in the world to go to get advice about international law.”

The inquiry will hear from Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd, the Prime Minister’s special envoy to Iraq, today. The panel is still debating whether to recall Mr Blair to give further evidence, and a date is yet to be set for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to appear.

Yesterday Ms Short described the Cabinet meeting on March 17, at which Lord Goldsmith presented his final and unequivocal advice that the war would be legal without a further resolution.

She recalled that the Attorney General was sitting in the seat of Robin Cook, who had that day resigned as Leader of the House of Commons over the war.

The former International Development Secretary said it was not true – as claimed by Mr Blair and Lord Goldsmith in their testimony to the inquiry – that the Cabinet was given the chance to ask questions.

She said she started to ask the Attorney General why the advice was so late but was “jeered at” to be quiet by other ministers.

Ms Short told the inquiry she was “stunned” by the legal advice but accepted it at the time.

She said: “I thought, in the teeth of war, the Attorney General of the UK coming to Cabinet to give legal advice – this is a very serious, monumental thing and that’s his advice, and I’m very surprised but you must accept it.” But she said the Cabinet would have had second thoughts if it had seen the detailed 13-page legal advice that Lord Goldsmith sent Mr Blair on March 7.

Ms Short said Mr Brown, then Chancellor, was being “marginalised” in the weeks before the invasion.

“Brown was pushed out and marginalised at the time and having cups of coffee with me and saying ‘Tony Blair is obsessed with his legacy and he thinks he can have a quick war and then a reshuffle etc’,” she said.

She said Mr Brown, in discussions with her, spoke of his concerns over what would happen “beyond Iraq”.

“He was worried about what is beyond Iraq,” she said. “He would say ‘On Iraq, we must uphold the UN’. I would say ’I agree’.”

A poll published this morning suggests voters believe Mr Brown should share responsibility for the war with Mr Blair. The survey, by ComRes for The Independent, found 60% agreed that Mr Brown bore a similar responsibility to Mr Blair.