British Prime Minister Tony Blair told his U.S. counterpart George Bush that he was prepared to go to war in Iraq without a second UN resolution in January 2003, a new book to be published in London revealed this week.

The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that evidence of the prime minister's determination to send British troops to war is included in a new edition of Lawless World by Philippe Sands QC, professor of international law at London University.

The first edition, which shed light on the fact that Britain's attorney general Lord Goldsmith told Blair two weeks before the invasion that military action could be illegal, aroused much controversy last year.

The new information suggests that the attempt to get a second UN resolution was "a sham", said a source close to the meeting between Bush and Blair at the White House on Jan. 31 2003.

Bush was determined that the invasion in Iraq should take place in March 2003 and Blair made no objection, apart from to say that a second U.N. resolution would be preferable.

A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment on Blair's conversations with other leaders before the invasion of Iraq.

Source: Xinhua