MINISTERS have rejected calls from MPs for stronger checks to prevent future leaders from permitting a rush into war as Tony Blair did with Iraq, MPs said yesterday.

The Commons’ public administration and constitutional affairs committee said the government’s response to its probe into the Iraq war and subsequent Chilcot inquiry did not accept the case for greater scrutiny.

It had warned last March that it would still be possible for a prime minister to disregard the proper Cabinet decision-making process in the way Mr Blair obediently backed George Bush’s illegal war.