Tony Blair rebutes trying to "rescue"  Colonel Gaddafi by warning him to escape Libya 

Tony Blair today rebutes he was trying to "rescue" Colonel Gaddafi when he warned him to flee Libya before the country's violent revolution.
The former Prime Minister called the former Libyan dictator on the phone just days before he was killed by his own people, telling him to go to a "safe place" in order to end the bloodshed.
Records of the call show Mr Blair told Gaddafi to stand aside to allow a peaceful solution to the situation.
But he told a committee of MPs that he did not do it out of fear for the brutal despot's safety
He told Gaddafi: "The absolute key thing is that the bloodshed and violence must stop. If you have a safe place to go then you should go there, because this will not end peacefully unless that happens."
"My concern was not for his safety," Mr Blair told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. "My concern was to get him out of the situation so that a peaceful transition could take place."

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Tony Blair and Muammar Gaddafi

He also told MPs he made the call of his own volition as a "concerned private citizen" and had not been tasked with doing so by diplomats or the government.
He said he had "two or three" calls with Gaddafi over a 24 hour period, all of which were to the same effect.
And while he was not asked to make the calls by anyone, he said he cleared the calls with David Cameron and Hillary Clinton, who was then US Secretary of State.
He said Mr Cameron was "content" for the conversation to happen - but he did not advocate it.
Mr Blair said he wanted to see a situation where Gaddafi agreed to step aside so a UN led commission could bring the factions together - including the despot's own followers - for negotiations.

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Mr Blair told the committee he wanted to use his "relationship" with Gaddafi to "get him to do something."
But it soon became clear there Gaddafi had "no appetite" to step aside.
Mr Blair famously met former Colonel Gaddafi in his desert tent in 2004, after the north African country renounced weapons of mass destruction. He visited him again in 2007.
The meeting marked a key stage in the process of reintegrating Libya into the international community, after years of sanctions over Gaddafi's support for terrorism.
Blair's phone calls to Gaddafi were revealed earlier this year, when a cache of emails held by Hillary Clinton were released under US Freedom of Information laws.