BRITAIN could be rushed into another illegal war: there’s nothing stopping a future prime minister ignoring advice, Blair-style, from senior officials, according to an MPs’ report out today.

The public administration & constitutional affairs committee warned that there are no safeguards to stop a warmongering prime minister bypassing Cabinet to take the country to war.

The committee’s report Lessons Still to be Learned From the Chilcot Inquiry probed the fallout of the Iraq war.

Former PM Tony Blair ignored the advice of officials when he wrote to then US president George W Bush promising “I will be with you, whatever” ahead of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

And he warned Parliament that Britain was 45 minutes away from attack by Saddam Hussein on the scant and flimsy evidence of the so-called “dodgy dossier.”

The report said that Parliament must be actively involved in the establishment of future inquiries and highlighted the need for strict guidelines to protect the independence of the Cabinet secretary if instructed to deviate from normal procedures.

It concludes: “It is no longer acceptable that the present arrangements should continue without stronger means to prevent key ministers, or even the whole Cabinet, from being sidelined.”

Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin MP warned: “At present, there is simply nothing even a Cabinet secretary can do to stop a prime minister from doing this again at some time in the future, short of resignation.

“There was a lack of collective Cabinet decision-making at a time when clear thinking and a culture of challenge was most needed.

“The failure to engage Cabinet on such decisions cannot be allowed to happen again, but there is no mechanism to ensure that.”

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German told the Star: “The report makes one thing very clear: that any prime minister could go to war again without any need to adhere to collective responsibility.

“We have gone through several inquiries into the Iraq war, the latest being Chilcot. Are we really saying that after all this time, money and expense we are no closer to holding warmongering prime ministers to account?

“The report underlines the need for much stronger sanctions against those who act unilaterally.

“If Tony Blair had faced criminal proceedings for this illegal and unnecessary war, then it would not be so easy for politicians to behave in this way.”