Former Prime Minister Tony Blair kept members of his cabinet and numerous high-profile Whitehall officials in the dark over his plans to create a “regime change” in Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein, a new memoir has revealed.

“Broken Vows,” a new book about the former PM by investigative journalist Tom Bower, reveals that Blair had decided as early as 2002 that Saddam Hussein should be removed, but failed to state his intentions to his Chief of Defence Staff, Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and most of the Cabinet.