A former Shropshire Labour MP who strongly opposed Britain going to war in Iraq and quit the party over its military strategy today listed a series of questions he says Tony Blair must answer.

Paul Marsden was MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1997 until 2005 when he did not seek re-election.

He was originally elected as a Labour candidate but left the party in 2001 because of his opposition to the war in Afghanistan and joined the Liberal Democrats.

In July 2004 he said that he was retiring from politics and would not contest the next election. The following April he announced that he was returning to Labour. Today he revealed the questions he would ask Tony Blair if he was at the Chilcot Inquiry, which would include:

• What criteria for “regime change” did you use to decide on military action after the 9/11 attacks, given that under international law it is illegal?

• What evidence would have persuaded you not to follow the US Government’s decision to go to war against Iraq?

• Given you told me on September 14, 2001 that “proper evidence” was required for action after 9/11, would you agree that you misled Parliament and the country in the September 2002 dossier, by stating Saddam Hussein’s possession of WMD was “beyond doubt”?

• Given that the Attorney General’s strong advice had been that a second UN resolution was required up to March 7 2003, would you have gone to war 12 days later if the Attorney General had maintained his advice?

• How could you allow the political and logistical plans for war to continue whilst your key legal advisor (the Attorney General) continued to prevaricate over the legality of war up to the brink of war commencing?

• Maj Gen Tim Cross, two days before the invasion, made clear that post-war planning wasn’t ready. How could you have allowed poor planning to develop given the consequences to the civilian population?