Tony Blair's wife says Iraq war decision was 51-49

London, Oct. 11 (ANI): A day after former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was told that he is a 'war criminal' by the father of a killed British military personnel, his wife Cherie Blair openly contradicted his version of the Iraq war decision by saying the move to go to war was a "51-49" decision.

"A lot of the time these choices are not clear-cut. They are not black and white," she told an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Instead of being 80-20, many of them are actually more like 51-49. When taking those decisions, Tony is able to step back, absorb all the information and then choose," The Independent quoted her, as saying.

Earlier, Blair had to face the consequence of his six-year-old decision of sending British troops to Iraq when Peter Brierley, whose son Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley died in the Iraq conflict, refused to shake hands with him, saying that he 'has blood on his hands.'

However, Cherie Blair suggested that her husband's support for the Iraq invasion was not an obvious decision, unlike what he has been saying.

"He is also very good at then convincing everybody else that it was a 70-30 decision all along. I think it [the Iraq war] was one of those 51-49 questions," she said.

The contribution is the latest in a series of media-related blunders made by Cherie.

In 2002, she had to apologise following what appeared to be a defence of Palestinian suicide bombers, just hours after 19 Israelis died in a suicide bomb attack.

One of the most memorable gaffe came during Gordon Brown's speech at the Labour conference in 2006, when she snorted "Well, that's a lie" in response to his praise of Blair, as she passed a TV monitor outside the conference hall. (ANI)