Ancram accuses Blair of 'shedding crocodile tears' over war victims

Tony Blair was accused of bending and twisting the truth in the run-up to war in Iraq as Conservatives accused him of shedding crocodile tears for the victims of the campaign against Saddam Hussein.

Michael Ancram, the shadow Foreign Secretary and the Conservatives' deputy leader, said yesterdaythe Prime Minister failed to make a "case the British people could trust" for war, while Bernard Jenkin, the shadow Defence Secretary accused Mr Blair of "parading private letters for political gain" in his speech to last week's Labour conference.

Mr Jenkin accused Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary of "losing all credibility" in the wake of the Hutton inquiry. He said: "Mr Hoon confessed to the Hutton inquiry that he had no idea what was going on in his own department. Not so much his finger on the button, as found sleeping at the switch ... how can New Labour possibly command the confidence and respect of the armed service men and woman in his care." Mr Ancram insisted that the Tories fully backed the war in Iraq, despite appearing to distance the party from the war at a fringe meeting on Tuesday.

But Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, accused the Conservative deputy leader of opportunism, claiming he was "blowing in the wind" over Iraq.

Mr Ancram said: "What was wrong was the way this Prime Minister approached the war. We pressed him to make a case that the British people could trust. He failed to do so. Instead, he bent and twisted the truth for his own ends.

"Mr Blair, the case was sound. There was no need to lie. You didn't need to claim that your dodgy dossier was intelligence-based when it was not. You didn't need to claim personal knowledge of weapons of mass destruction that evidently you didn't have. This Prime Minister should have trusted the British people, but the culture of spin in Downing Street was just too strong."

Mr Jenkin attacked Mr Blair for his emotional party conference speech , which referred to letters he had received from the families of service personnel killed in Iraq and accused Labour of failing to support the armed services.

He said: "Here in Blackpool there will be no crocodile tears or phoney emotion about how tough it is for us to take these decisions and to face the consequences. No parading of private letters for political gain.

"We don't have to endure the desert heat or bear real scars on our backs. It's our armed forces who have the real job."

He added: "We are told the economy has been growing, that Britain is so prosperous. Yet, as they lined up for battle on the Iraqi border, there weren't enough chemical suits or desert kit to go round."

Mr Ancram also went on the attack over Europe as he launched a national petition to Parliament demanding a referendum on the proposed European constitution. He accused Mr Blair of telling "outrageous lies" about European integration and promised to campaign "tooth and nail" against the proposals, claiming it would deny Britain the right to decide immigration policy and lead to the creation of a European superstate.

Conservative activists hope to table petitions in every constituency across Britain to increase pressure on Mr Blair to agree to a poll on the proposals and embarrass pro-European members if Tories in their constituencies can gather support for a referendum.