Sir Stephen Wall, formerly Blair's chief policy adviser, accused Blair and then-press secretary Alastair Campbell of deliberately misrepresenting France's opposition to the Iraq war to justify the invasion, the Observer reported today.

Wall made the comments in a BBC documentary titled "A Man with a Mission", a three-part series on Blair which will be aired Tuesday.

Wall, who accompanied Blair to a crucial EU summit in October 2002, said Chirac argued strongly that "while Saddam Hussein could be overthrown, the subsequent consequences would be disastrous".

Chirac even used the then-infant son of Blair to bolster his argument, saying: "Leo will not thank you if you take Britain into war." But Blair "never paid any attention to what Chirac said.. He'd kind of come out rolling his eyes and say 'Oh dear, dear old Jacques, he doesn't get it, does he?'" Wall said.

Blair and Campbell reportedly decided to place the blame for a UN deadlock squarely on Chirac, following a breakdown of diplomatic efforts to get a second Security Council resolution that could have delayed an invasion.

"I recall the moment," Wall says in the documentary, "because I happened to be in the corridor in Number 10 when he and Alastair Campbell were walking down the corridor and they decided effectively to play the anti-French card." It was clear that Chirac had not ruled out the possibility of future French support for the resolution, Wall said.