Tony Blair on Thursday scrambled to try to secure a multi-billion pound arms deal with Saudi Arabia before he leaves office in two weeks, dismissing calls by UK opposition parties to re-open a corruption inquiry into BAE Systems’ dealings with Riyadh.

The British prime minister, speaking to reporters on the margins of the Group of Eight nations summit in Germany, warned that the Serious Fraud Office investigation, abandoned last December after his intervention, would have led to the “complete wreckage” of vital British interests had it been allowed to continue.