Denham: Blair must reflect on lessons of war

Tim Sebastian questions John Denham over his decision to resign during the Iraq war

In a HARDtalk interview on 19 September 2003, Tim Sebastian talks to John Denham, a former Labour cabinet minister, about his decision to resign over the war in Iraq.

John Denham served for six years in Tony Blair's government, becoming minister of state at the home office.

On the issue of trust and whether he felt the government had been badly damaged by the situation in Iraq he admitted that there was a problem with the public at large:

"People like me who opposed the war didn't think the war was justified certainly in the time and the conditions we went to war. And I think that this has been borne out by events and is now reflected in public opinion," she says.

But it is an issue that he feels the Prime Minister can recover from - however, the government must reflect on the lessons of the Iraq war.

"I think that trust has been damaged but not beyond recovery. The task for Labour and the Prime Minister now is to make sure we build on a sound base and performance to make sure we've got the trust of the people at the next election."

As the Hutton inquiry uncovers further details about the way the government presented its case for war he said that he thought that the media was missing the point.

"I never thought the issue of the Iraq war was one of deceit," he says.

However he says that there are still many questions that need answering.

HARDtalk can be seen on BBC World at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 11:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 18:30 GMT and 22:30 GMT

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 03:30 and 23:30