Mr Blair said: "Over the coming weeks and months we will assemble this evidence and then we will give it to people.

"And I have no doubt whatever that the evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction will be there. Absolutely," he said. "Those people who are sitting there saying: 'Oh, it's all going to be proved to be a great big fib got out by the security services, there will be no weapons of mass destruction' - just wait, and have a little patience."

Both the US and UK Governments have faced a wave of accusations in recent days that they embellished intelligence on the weapons issue to justify the controversial war. US President George Bush expressed satisfaction on Sunday with the hunt for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, citing the discovery of suspected bio-labs and a banned weapons system.