Tony Blair is set to be called before a parliamentary select committee to explain why he allegedly tried to save Colonel Gaddafi before the allied bombing of Libya.
A biography of David Cameron claims that Mr Blair telephoned Downing Street during the 2011 military campaign to oust the Libyan dictator to say that he had been contacted by “a key individual close to Gaddafi” and that he wanted to “cut a deal”.
According to the account, the prime minister decided not to follow up the approach because he wanted to avoid “doing anything which might be seen to give the Libyan leader succour”.
Crispin Blunt, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the Libya campaign - indicated it was likely to ask Mr Blair to come and explain his involvement.
He said Mr Blair would also be able to provide information about the policies the government pursued previously, when he oversaw a controversial rapprochement with Gaddafi in 2004.
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“Any inquiry would have to have a look at that, and then the suggestion that he made an intervention during the course of 2011 certainly strengthens the case for having him come and give evidence,” Mr Blunt added.
But the Tory MP stressed that the committee would approach Mr Blair’s actions with an open mind. “We should avoid rushing to judgment. We do not arrive at the start of this inquiry with a conclusion in mind.”
The claim of Blair’s involvement prompted fury from the Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski, a member of the foreign affairs committee and the author of a book on Gaddafi, who accused Mr Blair of indulging a “sordid” and “irresponsible” idea.
Nadhim Zahawi, a fellow Tory who also sits on the committee, said that Mr Blair “clearly felt that it was an important thing to communicate to No 10”. He added: “If this is true then we need to better understand what happened.”
The committee is conducting an inquiry into Libya, including the British military action there. Mr Zahawi said: “With these revelations, we should be pushing for Blair to come and explain as part of the inquiry.”
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The biography, Cameron at 10 by Sir Anthony Seldon, includes a string of revelations that will embarrass the prime minister:
•Sir John Sawers, the former head of MI6, said that the intervention in Libya was not in Britain’s “national interest” and was instead for “humanitarian reasons”.
•Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, the former chief of the defence staff, accused Mr Cameron of staging a “half-baked” campaign to topple Gaddafi and claimed that he was more interested in a “Notting Hill liberal agenda” than genuine “statecraft”.
•President Obama refused to take Mr Cameron’s calls for three days before a planned missile strike against Syria, leaving him in the dark as he recalled MPs to parliament to vote.
•The prime minister became so annoyed with Boris Johnson publicly coveting his job that he told him to “f***ing shut up” or else Ed Miliband would end up as prime minister.
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The claim that Mr Blair phoned Downing Street to convey a message on behalf of Colonel Gaddafi risks proving highly damaging for the former Labour leader, who has faced strong criticism for brokering the “deal in the desert” that led to a rapprochement between Libya and the West in 2004.
The Libyan leader promised to renounce weapons of mass destruction in exchange for help from global oil companies to tap into his country’s reserves. However, families of those killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing were furious when the bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi was freed from a Scottish jail and allowed to go back to Libya. An inquiry later said that the Labour government did “all it could” to secure the return.
Mr Kawczynski said of the idea of a deal: “I think it is very irresponsible for Mr Blair to even have suggested it.”
Sir Vincent Fean, the British ambassador to Libya from 2006-10, said that it was impossible to predict what would have happened in Libya if Gaddafi had been offered a deal to leave. “I don’t think he was ever in the market for a dignified retirement,” he said
The office of Tony Blair did not respond to a request for comment.