Invasion of Iraq could bring about 'regime change in London', US told

The stark terms in which the US was warned that invading Iraq without a second UN security council resolution could cost Tony Blair his premiership have been revealed in newly released documents.

- Caroline Davies Ben Quinn

Blair's foreign policy adviser, Sir David Manning, warned Condoleezza Rice, the US national security adviser: "The US must not promote regime change in Baghdad at the price of regime change in London."

The meeting between the two took place ahead of Blair visiting the US president, George W Bush, at Camp David on 31 January 2003, two months before the Iraq invasion.

While the US had not yet decided on a second security council resolution, Blair's objectives at Camp David were to persuade the US that a second resolution was "politically essential for the UK and almost certainly legally essential as well", and to hold off from a February invasion until the end of March, according to a briefing note to Blair from Manning released by the National Archives in London.