Jaunty Blair remains unbloodied

YOU have to hand it to Tony Blair. Yesterday was expected to be the worst part of what was, by common consent, the worst week that Mr Blair has had to face in his entire political career.

Some had even predicted that the findings of the Butler inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war could so weaken his authority that he might even have to quit.

Indeed, the question of his resignation was obliquely hinted at during occasionally acerbic Commons exchanges.