Lord Butler has defended the approach his committee took in its review of the way intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was handled.

Giving evidence to the Commons public administration committee on Thursday, the former Cabinet secretary insisted it was not his role to bring down the government.

The Butler report listed a series of intelligence and presentational failings that led to the case for war being put in stronger terms than it should have been.

And it also criticised the prime minister's informal style of government and the lack of Cabinet involvement in the decision to go to war.

But its criticisms were not seen as strong enough to force Tony Blair's removal from office.

Lord Butler told the MPs that it would have been "improper" for him to bring down the government.

And he accepted that political sensitivities had been a concern because there were "very big issues at stake".

The former mandarin said his team saw its role as setting out the facts so that parliament and the public could draw their own conclusions.

"If we had come across evidence of distortion or wilful negligence, we would not have hesitated to identify that and those concerned with it," he said.

"On the political issues, we wanted to give people the information but we felt that really the proper place where governments should survive or fall is with parliament and the electorate.

"It would have been a heavy responsibility and one where it would have been improper for us to say that we think the government should resign on this issue."