'Blood on his hands'... The bereaved father in Blair's audience

Mr Blair's audience will include the bereaved Yorkshire father who famously refused to shake his hand at a war memorial service.

Peter Brierley, who lost his son in Iraq, hit the headlines when he publicly snubbed Mr Blair at a commemoration service for the Iraq War dead at St Paul's Cathedral in October, telling the former prime minister he had "blood on his hands" for sending troops to fight in Iraq.

Speaking at the time, Mr Brierley, of Batley, said: "I understand soldiers go to war and die but they have to go to war for a good reason and be properly equipped to fight.

"I believe Tony Blair is a war criminal. I can't bear to be in the same room as him.

"I believe he's got the blood of my son and all of the other men and women who died out there on his hands."

His son, Lt Cpl Shaun Brierley, 28, a radio systems operator with 212 Signal Squadron, died in March 2003 when the vehicle he was in crashed during the first days of the Iraq War. He was one of the 179 soldiers who died during the conflict.

Mr Brierley, 59, said: "I'm going to find it hard to be there because of the things they will be talking about, but I want to hear the truth."

A member of Military Families Against the War, Mr Brierley, is among 22 relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq who won a lottery for seats at the inquiry in London, but he has vowed not to disrupt the hearing and has no plans to confront Mr Blair again.

He said: "There are no plans to have a protest in the hall. It's too important for that and we don't want to be thrown out.

"I've already spoken to him. I've said what I needed to say."

Mr Brierley believes the former prime minister will have a tough time at the explosive inquiry, which is being chaired by Sir John Chilcot, and is likely to be one of the most gruelling public ordeals of Mr Blair's career.

Sir John Chilcot and the four fellow members of his inquiry team have proved to be far more rigorous than expected and some witnesses have struggled to cope with the forensic questioning of former envoy Sir Roderic Lyne.

Mr Brierley said: "If you look back at this inquiry, people have said they knew the weapons of mass destruction weren't there.

"Everyone who has given evidence seems to be saying the war was wrong. Tony Blair can't deny that he went to war illegally."

Mr Brierley defended the inquiry, saying they can't force anyone to give evidence, but he added he would like to see Mr Blair face a grilling and appear in a court of law for sending Britain to war.

He said: "I want him to go to The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity."