Commenting on news that Tony Blair is to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George Bush next week, Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, Edward Davey said: “Tony Blair should be spending next week helping to fix the mess in Gaza, not receiving an award for the biggest foreign policy disaster in recent history and his silence over Guantanamo Bay.”

“It is not surprising that this announcement has been left until after Tony Blair has left office and when George Bush is packing his bags. It is simply too controversial to be sold to voters.

“The political capital built up by Blair’s work in Northern Ireland was squandered entirely by the needless war in Iraq.”