LONDON, June 17: Two former senior British ministers accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of deceiving the public at the start of a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday into the government’s justification for launching an invasion of Iraq.

Robin Cook, who resigned from the cabinet on the eve of the invasion, said there was no sign of the equipment or a workforce for Iraq to produce weapons of mass destruction.

“It is inconceivable that both could have been kept concealed for the two months we have been in occupation of Iraq,” he told the official inquiry.

Mr Cook quit as the government’s parliamentary leader after differences over the invasion. He is also a former foreign secretary.

The inquiry comes as Mr Blair faces mounting pressure to come up with evidence of banned Iraqi weapons that he said justified Britain joining the United States in military action.

Such concerns are also putting pressure on US President George Bush. —Reuters