Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Gordon Brown to hold the Iraq War inquiry in secret, it has been claimed.
According to reports, the former prime minister who took Britain into the conflict, warned that the long-awaited hearings would become a ‘show trial’ if they were held in public.
He is said to have communicated his view to his successor, Mr Brown, via the Cabinet Secretary, Gus O'Donnell.
He feared that a direct conversation would be leaked, The Observer claimed.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said: ‘This is a decision for the current Prime Minister, not the former one.’
Mr Brown has faced severe criticism for announcing on Monday that the inquiry would be held behind closed doors and was forced into a partial climb down days later.
After an array of senior figures denounced the decision to hold hearings in private, Downing Street said on Thursday that inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot would have some discretion in how he conducted proceedings.
The attack was led by former premier Sir John Major and the head of the last official inquiry on the war, Lord Butler of Brockwell, who accused ministers of putting the Government's political interest ahead of the national interest.
Sir John Major warned the inquiry risked being dismissed as a ‘whitewash’ unless there was full disclosure with witnesses giving evidence on oath.
Senior military figures, including the former head of the Army General Sir Mike Jackson, called for open hearings, while the cross-party Public Administration Committee called for a complete rethink of the inquiry arrangements.
Mr Brown is facing a Commons vote on Wednesday on a Conservative motion calling for the evidence to be heard largely in public.
