British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair announced reforms to government and spy agencies today to try to quell a furore over a damning report into flawed intelligence on Iraqi weapons.
But Mr Blair, whose public trust ratings have plunged in the war's aftermath, was again forced to defend himself against the charge he duped parliament and the country over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction - the primary reason he gave for war.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
"The intelligence really left little doubt about Saddam (Hussein) and weapons of mass destruction," Mr Blair said in a final debate on Iraq before parliament breaks for summer on Thursday.
"I don't accept it was a mistake to go to war. I think it was the right thing to do. I still believe it was the right thing to do," he added.
Mr Blair had hoped to draw a line under the Iraq debacle with the report on intelligence, published last week by former civil servant Lord Butler.
Instead, Butler's findings have revived the row over the US-led conflict and given Mr Blair's critics fresh ammunition to question his credibility - an issue they hope will feature prominently in next year's expected general election.
Mr Blair's Labour Party has suffered a string of embarrassing electoral losses in past months, partly due to an Iraq backlash.
Opinion polls put him on track to lead Labour to a third general election victory but his trust ratings continue to suffer.
Butler cleared Mr Blair of distorting spies' assessments on Iraq but exposed faulty intelligence. He criticised Mr Blair's informal style of government and its closeness to secret agents.
In response, Mr Blair said in any future document, like a now notorious September 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons, intelligence would be presented separately from the political case and with all necessary caveats.
He also signalled a change to the informal meetings he held with senior ministers, intelligence chiefs and officials in the runup to war - excluding his whole cabinet of senior ministers.
"In any future situation, such a group ... would operate formally as an ad hoc committee of cabinet," he said.
The Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, has appointed a senior officer to work through Butler's recommendations, Mr Blair said.