Speaking after a G8 summit ultimately diverted from its focus on aid to Africa and climate change by Thursday’s terror attacks on London, the prime minister praised the resilience of Londoners and the determination of leaders not to bow to terror.

“This type of terrorism has very deep roots and as well as dealing with the consequences of it…and trying to protect ourselves as much as any civilised society can, it’s only when you start to pull it up by the roots that you will start to deal with it.

In an at times emotional interview with the BBC Today programme, Mr Blair said he did not believe the invasion of Iraq could be seen as a trigger for Thursday’s attacks. However, he also said old injustices, poverty and the democratic vacuum in the Middle East had to be address if terror was to be countered effectively.

Islamic leaders also had to deal with the “dreadful perversion” of their faith by fanatics.

Mr Blair said he welcomed Muslim leaders “standing up and saying ‘we abhor these acts of terrorism and violence that are wholly inconsistent with the teaching of Islam.’”

Mr Blair said no security measures, including ID cards, offered a total defence against terrorism but it was the government’s responsibility to do what it could to make borders secure and deal with those who would commit acts of terror.

“You’ve got, as a government, to do everything you can to protect your people but if people are prepared to go onto the Tube or a bus and blow up wholly innocent people – people just at random – to do the maximum death and destruction without any thought for their human rights or human life…(then) you can have all the surveillance in the world and you couldn’t stop that happening,” he said.

Mr Blair said he had been reassured by the solidarty of G8 leaders and other world leaders who had been at the Gleneagles summit. Many of whom had experienced terror in their own countries and who were behind Britain in its fight now.

He described the jolt, the “emotional gamut” that had been run during the summit from Wednesday’s elation at London winning the right to stage the 2012 Olympics, to Thursday’s horrifying attacks and then G8 deals on aid to Africa and on climate change.

“On Wednesday people felt exhilarated and uplifted and then on Thursday felt an awful sense of tragedy and despair at the mindless killing of innocent people,” he said. The summit had, he said, tried to deal with important global issues.

Blair said he had been struck at the summit by the interdependence of the world, where terror in one continent now spread to another and where the roots of terror where in the interests of everyone to tackle.

He said he did not believe that the western invasion of Iraq could be directly blamed for London’s new vulnerability. The attacks on New York and Washington in September 11, 2001 had come before any action in Iraq and had, of course, led to the invasion of Afghanistan to tackle the roots of the Al Qaeda network

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