‘Teflon Tony’ rides high again after Iraq report

Although the report by former top civil servant Lord Butler found major holes in the intelligence, it spared Blair any personal responsibility. ‘‘It looks very much like the man they call Teflon Tony has come out of this unscathed again,’’ said John Benyon, Professor of Political Science at the University of Leicester. ‘‘But the trust issue is going to continue to be a problem.’’

It was the fourth report in a year into the process that reinforced the government’s justification for war from which Blair has escaped with little more than a slapped wrist. In January, a report by retired judge Lord Hutton cleared the government of any responsibility over the suicide of a weapons specialist at the core of a claim by the BBC that the case for war was deliberately exaggerated.

It followed two parliamentary reports in 2003 that expressed only mild criticism of Blair and the government over the war.

But while the political career of the Labour Party leader has survived, the war has hammered the public trust ratings of the man who led his party to two successive electoral landslide victories.

After the Butler report, bookmaker William Hill said Blair was odds-on favourite to lead his party into the next general election, expected in the first half of 2005.

—(Reuters)