大象传媒

Ian McEwan, whose novel Saturday is based on the build up to the Iraq war, has said Blair's New Labour legacy is still "toxic" to the party.

Responding to the Chilcot report Mr McEwan said Mr Blair must wish the Iraq war never happened and that "the very good things achieved by New Labour, outside of the Iraq account, are forgotten or pushed aside".

Ian McEwan began his interview with Mark Mardell by reading a passage from the novel when his central character, Henry, a neurosurgeon uncertain about the war, meets Tony Blair.

(Photo: novelist Ian McEwan Credit: Getty Images.)