"When you look at the advice itself there's nothing there that suggests the invasion was illegal. It's not a smoking gun, but I don't accept it is a damp squib [as Mr Blair put it] either.
"They made a huge mistake in not publishing it a long time ago. It would have been one less thing that could have been leaked in the middle of an election campaign, which would have saved a hell of a lot of trouble.
"Labour's campaign has been turned upside down for at least a couple of days and this is where it is so damaging. New Labour behaves according to its 'grid' [election planning system] and the grid is not only no longer working, it has been thrown into disarray.
"Instead of concentrating on their election policies, they are talking about Iraq all the time which is obviously a huge problem. They will be desperate to get back on track very quickly.
"Whether they will be allowed to do so is a tricky question. The Lib Dems have every reason to continue pushing this issue and the Conservatives are using it to go for Blair's character again.
"All of the polls show that people have already made up their minds about Iraq. Many people have decided that they will not vote for Tony Blair because of Iraq, while others have decided that they will vote for him despite it.
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"The biggest question is why the Government didn't publish this ages ago."
