Father to Tony Blair: I will not shake your hand, you've got blood on it...

Interesting that one of the most powerful actions of the week turned out to be a non-action. Peter Brierley – father of Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, one of the first to die in Iraq, at St Paul's to commemorate soldiers and personnel killed in the conflict – refusing to shake Tony Blair's hand, with the words: "I am not shaking your hand. You have got blood on it." Blair – clearly shocked, was bustled away by security, the whole thing akin to some bizarre inversion of the usual over-zealous fan/reluctant celebrity scenario.

Mr Brierley spoke afterwards of the millions of pounds Blair has made, and the talk of making him head of the EU, describing him as: "A war criminal. I cannot bear to be in the same room as him." During the ceremony Blair had to sit through what could be described as another "arch dissing", as Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, ruminated on our collective responsibility to be alert to the true cost of war, and the dangers of exaggerated rhetoric. But it is Brierley who sticks in the mind. No screaming, no eggs thrown, no punches, just a refusal to press flesh. More...

Don't miss:

1. A Mandelson/Blair plot to create a European Superstate?
2. Tony Blair, 'blood money' and a Lockerbie deal...
3. Tony Blair jeered at Yale over Iraq war...
4. As Gaza is being blown apart, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair is on vacation!!!
5. Tony Blair claimed £7,000 for new roof just TWO days before leaving Downing Street...