The British Prime Minister has admitted that biological and chemical weapons he insisted Saddam Hussein had ready for use may never be found.
He told MPs that Saddam's secret stockpile may have been "hidden, removed or destroyed". Asked by the House of Commons Liaison Committee if he would accept or even apologise for going to war for the wrong reasons, Mr Blair said: "It has got rid of Saddam Hussein and he was a tyrant.
"I do not believe there was not a threat in relation to weapons of mass destruction.
"I have to accept the fact that we have not found them, but we have found very clear evidence of intent and desire," Mr Blair said.
"Whether they were hidden, removed or destroyed, he was in clear breach of UN resolutions."
Mr Blair told the committee: "What I have to accept is that I was very, very confident that we would find them. I was very confident when I spoke to you this time last year that the Iraq Survey Group would find them .
"I have to accept that we have not been found them - that we may not find them," he said.
However, Mr Blair said it would be wrong to now say that Saddam was not a threat. He would not say it was a mistake to place such great emphasis on WMD in the run-up to the war rather than on regime change.
He said: "I genuinely believe that those weapons were there and that is why the international community came together as they did."