We'll see Blair in court say relatives

Relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq today angrily called for Tony Blair to resign - and pledged to launch legal action against the Prime Minister for taking Britain to war on the basis of lies.

The Stop the War Coalition and Military Families Against the War said they were preparing to present a case against the Prime Minister at the High Court, based on the Attorney General's leaked advice.

Reg Keys, whose son Lance Corporal Tom Keys, 20, was killed in southern Iraq when he and his colleagues were surrounded by an angry mob, said Mr Blair should have the decency to resign.

His son was among a group of Military Police killed in a confrontation with an armed crowd shortly before he was due to be sent home.

Mr Keys, who is standing against Mr Blair in his Sedgefield constituency in the general election, called on the opposition parties to withdraw their candidates and give him a free run in the fight to unseat Mr Blair.

He said: "The gap between the Attorney General's advice of 7 March 2003, as we now understand it, and the 'summary' of 17 March on which both Cabinet and Parliament agreed to go to war is now politically unbridgeable.

"I can envisage no explanation which would satisfy those who voted for the war on the assurances of the Attorney General's 'summary'. I therefore feel that Tony Blair has no choice but to resign as Prime Minister. I call on him to do so, and I call on Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy to withdraw their candidates in Sedgefield so that I can face Blair alone on 5 May."

He added: "The progress to war was pushed through because the US and UK did not want the UN weapons inspectors to complete their work; it would not suit the war agenda if the inspectors found no weapons of mass destruction."

Mr Keys went on: "Tony Blair led this country into an illegal war on the basis of weapons of mass destruction which did not exist, and he asks us, with his schoolboy grin, to put this behind us.

"I'm sorry, Mr Blair, but there has to be accountability - you cannot just walk away from this with impunity. I am here to hold you to account for the human and material costs of this war.

"The last time I saw my son Tom was at a railway station when he marched off down the platform with his head held high, proud to do his duty for his country. He believed what he was told. But the Prime Minister misled the country. And Tom and the other soldiers who had their oath of allegiance betrayed came home in coffins - having died for a lie.

"Its time to bring accountability back into British politics. Tony Blair has always said that history will be his judge. On 5 May it will be up to the people of Sedgefield to make history happen."

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon was killed in Basra last year, said: "We now know that the war was based on a lie. There was no legal advice in favour of the war. My son died for that lie and I am determined to see justice done."

Mrs Gentle, who is standing against Defence Minister Adam Ingram in the East Kilbride parliamentary constituency, added: "If Tony Blair had a shred of decency he would resign tonight. He is a disgrace to his party and to his country."

A spokesman for the Stop The War Coalition said: "There were no weapons of mass destruction, no 45-minute warning, and now we know, there was no proper legal advice for war. Tony Blair has to take responsibility for what happened in Iraq and for the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and 88 British servicemen."