David Brown George Bush raised the issue of Saddam Hussein’s links to terrorism during a conversation with Tony Blair just three days after the 9/11 attacks, the inquiry into the Iraq war heard today.

Sir David Manning, the Prime Minister’s foreign policy advisor at the time, said that Mr Blair told the President that he would require “very compelling” evidence to justify military action.

He told the Chilcot Inquiry: “The first time the President mentioned Iraq to the Prime Minister after 9/11 was on September 14 when he said, if I recall, there might be some evidence that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

“The Prime Minister’s response to this was that the evidence would have to be very compelling indeed to justify any action against Iraq.”

Mr Blair followed up the conversation with a letter the following month stressing the need to focus on the situation in Afghanistan, where the 9/11 attacks originated.

“I think at the same time I remember him saying how important it was to confront the treat of weapons of mass destruction,” added Sir David.

Sir David said that 9/11 attacks had led President Bush’s administration to redefine the security threats faced by the United States.

“After 9/11 it is no longer acceptable to allow threats to materialise, you have got to go out and deal with them,” he explained.

The inquiry has previously heard that British officials had discussions with their American counterparts about “regime change” in Iraq in the early months of 2001 but had dismissed the possibility of any military action.

Times Recommends

• Feeble wind farms fail to hit full power
• Students revolt as 150 are crammed into one tutorial
• Politics is off as Mumsnetters get raunchy