Tony Blair must account for taking Britain into the Iraq war, the Prime Minister has said.

David Cameron suggested the former prime minister and his government who led the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 should be accountable "in this House and in the court of public opinion".

The Prime Minister made the comments in Parliament as MPs debated the findings of the Iraq Inquiry, whose report on Britain's involvement in the conflict which began in 2003 was published earlier on Wednesday.

Cameron told the Commons that "clearly the government of the day and the prime minister of the day have to account for themselves and I understand that Mr Blair is doing that right now".

It came after former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond suggested "individuals" should be considered responsible, as he quoted a note from Mr Blair to American president George Bush pledging support.

Salmond said: "Chilcot has concluded that this country went to war not as a last resort, that the authority of the United Nations was undermined, and that the chaos and the carnage which has ensued was partly explained by the complete lack of planning for the aftermath."

"I don't understand, given that we now know from Chilcot, the memo written by the then-prime minister on July 28 to George W Bush saying 'I will be with you whatever' is in any way compatible with what was said to Parliament and people at the time.

"Amid all this stuff about improving processes which is fantastically important and I acknowledge it, is it not at the end of the day people who make decisions and in our search for responsibility wouldn't it help if individuals responsible were held accountable?"

Cameron agreed with Salmond on the fundamental point.

He said: "I think you are right to highlight these very important aspects of the report.

"It wasn't a last resort, we weren't at the last resort stage, the UN according to Sir John Chilcot was undermined and there was this fundamental lack of planning that led to so many of the problems afterwards.

"And you are right that the people who took those decisions should be held accountable, held accountable in this House and held accountable in the court of public opinion.

"They're also accountable in terms of people who might want to take action, as people have through the courts with respect to equipment failures and the rest of it in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The Prime Minister added: "But clearly the Government of the day and the Prime Minister of the day have to account for themselves and I understand that Mr Blair is doing that right now."

Cameron was referring to statement Blair made in response to Chilcot's long-awaited report.

Blair in his statement apologised to families of soldiers who died in Iraq, saying: "I recognise the division felt by many in our country over the war, and in particular I feel deeply and sincerely - in a way that no words can properly convey - the grief and suffering of those who lost ones they loved in Iraq, whether members of our armed forces, the armed forces of other nations or Iraqis."

But the former prime minister denied he had unequivocally pledged Britain to war and said the note he sent to President Bush meant he would "be with the USA in dealing with this issue", not that he would automatically side with military action.