Tony Blair's ex-communications director claimed Friday that media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's warned the British leader over the dangers of delaying the 2003 U.S.-led invasion as he made efforts to press the U.K. to support the conflict.

In the latest volume of his diaries, excerpts of which were published by The Guardian newspaper, Alastair Campbell said Blair found Murdoch's protests clumsy and that they both suspected he had been urged to intervene by the White House.

Giving evidence to Britain's media ethics inquiry last month, Blair acknowledged that he and Murdoch had spoken by phone three times in the immediate run up to the war, and that he had explained Britain's likely course of action.

Campbell's diary recounts that in a call a week before a key House of Commons vote on joining the U.S. invasion, when Blair secured a majority and won over many skeptical legislators, Murdoch pressed the British chief over the possible problems that could be caused by any delay in the start of conflict.