Bishops attack Blair over abuse of prisoners

All 110 bishops of the Church of England have combined to deliver a powerful rebuke to Tony Blair over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

In a strongly-worded protest, they warned the mistreatment of detainees had "deeply damaged" the West. The protest comes in a letter agreed at a meeting of bishops and written by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Dr David Hope, the Archbishop of York.

Timed to coincide with this week's handover to the new Iraqi government, it will dismay ministers trying to shift the public focus away from Iraq.

The bishops' letter said Britain's credibility as an " honest broker" in the Middle East had been badly damaged.

They wrote: "The apparent breach of international law in relation to the treatment of Iraqi detainees has been deeply damaging."

A No 10 spokesman said: "The archbishops are entitled to their views and the Prime Minister will reply in due course."

Downing Street hopes of moving on from the war were jolted further today with reports that the Butler report into the use of intelligence will be published early, on the eve of two crucial by-elections on 15 July.