TONY Blair faces a “judicial or political reckoning,” Alex Salmond has insisted, raising the prospect that the former prime minister could be tried for war crimes in the Scottish courts.

Ahead of the eagerly-awaited publication of the £10 million, 2.6m word report by the Chilcot Inquiry on Wednesday, the former First Minister stressed how he and other MPs believed evidence existed for "action to be taken" against Mr Blair.

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He acknowledged that this would be difficult because the “most obvious crime” with which the former Labour leader could be charged was one of organising a "war of aggression" but Mr Salmond pointed out that the International Criminal Court did not as yet have jurisdiction over that.

"The domestic courts, at least in England,” explained the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, have chosen not to pursue crimes which were international.” But he then noted: “Incidentally, that has not been tested in Scotland."

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The MP for Gordon, who unsuccessfully sought to impeach Mr Blair over the Iraq war in 2004, added: "One way or another, there are many MPs across the political parties, who are absolutely determined, that account has to be held to." Some want the former premier to be stripped of his role as a privy counsellor and the title of “right honourable” that goes with it.

Mr Salmond declared: “You cannot have a situation where this country blunders into an illegal war with the appalling consequences and at the end of the day there isn't a reckoning. There has to be a judicial or political reckoning for it."

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Labour's John McDonnell refused to rule out calling for Mr Blair to be tried for war crimes over Iraq.

The shadow chancellor did not disagree with the suggestion, made over the weekend, that he and Jeremy Corbyn, one of the keenest critics of the Iraq war, would seek to "crucify" the former leader for "being a war criminal" when the report is published.

When asked if he thought the former party leader might have questions to answer in the international court, Mr McDonnell replied: "Nobody can comment on this until we see the report itself and I'm hoping that it will be thorough and for me the importance is not Tony Blair or any individuals, it's about the processes, so we never ever get into this tragic, tragic mess again with such loss of life."

Professor Robert Black QC, one of Scotland’s foremost advocates, who was one of the architects of the Lockerbie trial, said: “Since Tony Blair's actions over Iraq were taken while he was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, it is certainly the case that, if he committed any criminal offences, Scottish courts just as much as English courts would have jurisdiction to try him.

“But I have to say, I'm having difficulty trying to figure out what the charges under Scots or English law would be,” he added.

Rose Gentle from Glasgow, whose 19-year-old son Gordon, a Royal Highland Fusilier, died in a roadside bomb attack while on patrol in Basra in 2004, said: “Whatever comes out in the inquiry, if he[Tony Blair] has lied and is held responsible for it, then he should be taken to court.”

She added: “I don’t see why it should just be England; Scottish families have lost someone as well. If anything does come out, then it should be taken further and if it’s got to be done in the Scottish courts, then it should be done because there are Scottish families affected.”

The families of the fallen have already indicated they will consider using the findings of the Chilcot inquiry to sue the former PM, ex-ministers and generals for failing in their public duties.

Mr Blair, when asked about the Iraq report, declined to comment, saying only: “Wednesday is the time the report is published. I have said many times over these past years I will wait for the report and then I will make my views known and express myself fully and properly.”

But Mr Salmond took the former PM to task, saying his current coyness on the subject did “not stop him talking to CNN last October when he apologised for other people’s action; the famous non-apology apology...”

He added the reason why Mr Corbyn and others regarded Mr Blair as a war criminal was clear: “179 British war dead, 150,000 immediate dead from the Iraq conflict, a Middle East in flames, the world faced with an existential crisis on terrorism.”