Tony Blair thinks every day about the soldiers and civilians who died in the war in Iraq, he has told The Times.

The former Prime Minister, now Middle East envoy for the Quartet group of the US, UN, EU and Russia, does not know whether history will vindicate him over the decision to invade. “I don't know. Nobody knows,” he told Ginny Dougary in an interview to be published tomorrow.

He said that he was not haunted by it “but of course I reflect on it, and am troubled by it, and feel a great sense of responsibility for it”.