Blair told: publish the evidence

Tony Blair today faced demands from his own loyalists to publish the legal advice which took Britain to war in Iraq as the pressure piled up for Downing Street to come clean.

The Prime Minister faced demands to make a full statement to the Commons after the Labour peer and leading barrister Baroness Kennedy claimed that it was only after pressure from Washington and at a late stage that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, had cleared the way for military action.

Baroness Kennedy said that the "vast majority" of lawyers had earlier believed that action against Saddam Hussein would be unlawful unless backed by a specific UN resolution. And she claimed that view was the legal opinion of the Foreign Office.

The pressure on Mr Blair was increased after his predecessor, John Major, warned the continuing row was " poisoning" the political atmosphere. Mr Major said there was no credible or logical reason not to reveal Lord Goldsmith's verdict in full.

Reports yesterday claimed that defence chiefs had insisted on "unequivocal" advice that the war was legal.

That was backed by former Cabinet minister Clare Short who claimed that it was only "right at the last minute" that Lord Goldsmith gave the Cabinet a brief statement to confirm the war had legal backing. She also pointed out that the Attorney General was "a friend of Tony's" adding that it was hard to believe he had not been leant on.

Downing Street continued to resist the calls to publish the full guidance from Lord Goldsmith on the grounds that it would break a longstanding confidentiality rule. But Mr Blair faced a linked and equally urgent problem over how to contain the continuing mutiny from Ms Short.

The former International Development Secretary yesterday defied a private attempt to muzzle her. She went on television to flourish a warningletter from Cabinet Secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull, demanding that she give no further interviews. The letter accused her of damaging security services by declaring that British spies had bugged offices at the UN.