'UK must share Iraq blame'

A former member of the Bush administration has told Britain that it cannot avoid its share of responsibility for the mistakes made in Iraq since the 2003 war.

Kenneth Adelman, the former US assistant defence secretary and United Nations ambassador, criticised Britain for not raising the alarm when problems emerged after Saddam Hussein was ousted.

He told Channel 4 News: "I think the British should have raised alarms. And the way to deal with Americans is to really be very frank and very tough. They knew what was happening."

Mr Adelman, an ally of Donald Rumsfeld, said that British administrators in Iraq should have told Tony Blair to raise their concerns with President George Bush. He said: "The British certainly did not confront the Americans enough to say: 'This is all falling apart ... we are really doing stupid things here'."