Iraq inquiry to be told Foreign Office lawyer thought war illegal as nervous Blair works until 3am to prepare

Explosive evidence showing the Government was 'clearly advised' the Iraq war was illegal will be disclosed at the inquiry into the conflict this week, it was revealed today.



Sir Michael Wood, who was the Foreign Office's chief legal adviser, is expected to reveal he believed the war was unlawful without a second United Nations resolution.

Elizabeth Wilmshurst, a senior FCO lawyer who quit in protest at the invasion, will also say she was not 'a voice in the wilderness' in having doubts about its legality.

She is expected to claim Sir Michael told then attorney general Lord Goldsmith of his reservations days before the invasion began, according to reports.



The new claims are due to emerge just days before Tony Blair gives evidence to the panel, in what is set to be one of the most gruelling public ordeals of his career.

Secret letters: Blair promised 'to be there' for Bush

Mr Blair has been working until as late as 3am, surrounded by piles of documents on the war as he prepares to give evidence this coming Friday.



IRAQ INQUIRY THIS WEEK MONDAY: Former Defence Secretaries Des Browne and John Hutton will face questions over the last years of the military operation and could skewer Tony Blair and Gordon Brown over concerns that underfunding led to serious kit shortages. TUESDAY: Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign Office's former legal adviser, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst, his deputy expected to pile pressure on Mr Blair by telling the committee that they believed the decision to take Britain to war without a second UN resolution was illegal. WEDNESDAY: Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney General, will be questioned about why he changed his legal stance that toppling Saddam without UN backing would be unlawful in the days before the invasion and whether he was 'bullied' by Downing Street into his abrupt U-turn. FRIDAY: Tony Blair will face a forensic grilling over why he told Parliament that Saddam's threat was 'active, detailed and growing' in the months before the invasion and why he claimed intelligence proved 'beyond doubt' that the dictator had WMD.



The former prime minister has spent weeks poring over his Iraq files in an attempt to make sure he is not caught out when his handling of the war is scrutinised.



He has read and re-read hundreds of memos and reports as well as secret letters he wrote to George Bush the year before the war promising to ‘be there’ with the United States if it came to military action.

Sir John Chilcot and the four fellow members of his inquiry team have proved to be far more rigorous than expected. Some witnesses have struggled to cope with the forensic questioning of former envoy Sir Roderic Lyne.



Mr Blair has the added pressure of knowing that several relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq will be present at Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II conference centre when he accounts for his actions.



Demand for places at Friday’s hearing was so great that a lottery was held to allocate tickets.



‘Tony has been up all hours trying to gen up on the key facts and meetings,’ said one source. ‘He has sat there until way past midnight. He is very good at memorising documents and wants to be sure he can answer everything put to him.



‘He is confident he can convince the Inquiry why he felt it was right to go to war. Is he nervous? He would not be human if he wasn’t.’



In recent weeks, Mr Blair has appeared to adopt new tactics in his attempt to defend his decision to go to war.



There was widespread surprise when he suggested to television interviewer Fern Britton that he would have supported the war even if he had not thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Question time: Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw spoke at the Chilcot Inquiry in London last week. This week it will be the turn of Tony Blair

He is also likely to be asked to justify his statement to the Commons in September 2002, six months before the war, that it was ‘beyond doubt’ that Saddam was developing WMDs.



The claim was included in the dossier on Saddam’s weapons.



The main worry of Mr Blair’s allies is that the Inquiry confronts him with evidence from the vast amount of secret documents they have been given access to. ‘No one is better at thinking on his feet than Tony, but it depends how aggressive they decide to be and what they bring up,’ said one.



On Tuesday, ex-Foreign Office legal adviser Elizabeth Wilmshurst, who resigned because she believed the war was illegal, will speak in public for the first time as she gives evidence to Chilcot.



And on Wednesday, former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith will be put on the spot over his last-minute U-turn when he declared the war legal.



