"My son's blood is on your hands", father tells Tony Blair

Tony Blair offered his hand to Peter Brierley during a reception following a service to commemorate the dead of the Iraq war. "Don't you dare," said Peter. "You have my son's blood on your hands."

Peter's son, Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, who was married with a four-year-old son, died soon after being deployed to Iraq. Peter is a member of the Stop The War Coalition, who, following his son's death, campaigned tirelessly for an independent inquiry into the war. He explains here why he refused to shake Blair's hand at the commemoration ceremony.

"As far as I am concerned that man is a war criminal. I can't bear to be in the same room as him. I cannot believe he's been allowed to come to this reception. I sat through that service listening to people preaching to me about tolerance but I don't think anyone should be forced to tolerate being in the same room as him.

"He has made £14 million on the back of taking us to war and they are now talking about making him president of the EU. But I believe he's got the blood of my son – and all of the other men and women who died in that war – on his hands.

"The truth is that we went to war on the lies of Blair and his weapons of mass destruction. Six years may have gone by but the pain is always there. Every time I see footage of a coffin coming off a plane, it brings it all flooding back and reminds me of what happened to Shaun."

179 British soldiers die in Iraq. It is estimated that over one million Iraqis were killed. Tony Blair has earned over £15 million since he resigned as prime minister two years ago. This includes £2.5 million a year for one day's work a month for the bank J.P. Morgan, which is earning huge profits from contracts for reconstructing Iraq after the devastation caused by the Bush/Blair illegal war.