Brown was 8216;disaster8217; as PM: Blair

Tony Blair,who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007 said in his book titled 8216;A Journey8217; that he was desperately sorry over the deaths on all sides 8211; British soldiers,their allies,Iraqi civilians,diplomats and targets of random killings.

But he said,8221;He can8217;t regret the decision to go to war8221; as it would have been a bigger risk to security,to leave the dictator Saddam Hussein in power than remove him.

Blair comes down heavily on his colleague-turned-rival Gordon Brown saying he Brown was overestimated by his party colleagues as prime minister. He said Brown8217;s three years in office were a 8220;disaster8221; and his succession was 8220;unwise because it was never going to work.8221;

Describing Brown as 8220;maddening8221;,8221;difficult8221; Blair said he wore him down with 8220;relentless personal pressure as he chased the top job.8221;

In extracts released to The Guardian in advance of publication,Blair says of Brown,8221;Political calculation,yes. Political feelings,no. Analytical intelligence,absolutely. Emotional intelligence,zero.8221;

Answering questions as to why he didn8217;t sack Brown,Blair said,8221;In the light of his Brown8217;s tenure as prime minister,I should have stopped it: at that time that would have been well nigh impossible.8221;

Saying Brown had become 8220;impossible8221; and standard bearer of dissent in the party,Blair said it was less damaging to keep him inside the circle than kick him out.

The former prime minister laid the blame for Labour8217;s landslide general election defeat on Brown8217;s change in strategy.

Asking himself why Labour lost,Blair replied: 8220;The response,I fear,is obvious. It won as New Labour. It lost by ceasing to be that.8221;

He said that Brown lacked political instinct 8216;at the human gut level8217; and described him as a 8220;manipulative figure8221; who lost a winnable election by abandoning the principles of new Labour.

He describes Brown as a man with a significant power base within the party and media,a position which would have made it difficult to sack him as chancellor.

Blair said: 8220;Was he difficult,at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong,capable and brilliant,and those were qualities for which I never lost respect.

When it8217;s said that I should have sacked him,or demoted him,this takes no account of the fact that had I done so,the party and the government would have been severely and immediately destabilised and his ascent to the office of prime minister would probably have been even faster.8221;

In an interview to BBC Blair said his relationship with Brown was 8220;frankly hard,going on impossible8221; but that 8220;for large parts of the time we were in government,he was an immense source of strength8221;.

He added that,when Brown was chancellor,8221;People maybe over-estimated his capacity to be prime minister8221; but then during 8220;the last three years,when he was prime minister,people maybe underestimated his strengths8221;.

The book covers key events such as the invasion of Iraq,the Northern Ireland peace process,and domestic reforms,besides his uneasy relationship with Brown,who succeeded him in 2007.

On the Iraq war,Blair writes that he was 8220;desperately sorry8221; over the deaths an all sides,but he 8220;can8217;t regret the decision to go to war8221;,and laid out a case for the conflict.

He writes: 8220;I have often reflected as to whether I was wrong. I ask you to reflect as to whether I may have been right.8221;

He said he wept over the loss of life.

Referring to his critics,he wrote: 8220;Do they really suppose I don8217;t care,don8217;t feel,don8217;t regret with every fibre of my being the loss of those who died? Tears,though

there have been many,do not encompass it8221;.