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Tony Blair cut a relaxed and smiling figure as he strode into the Royal Courts of Justice for his grilling at the Leveson Inquiry.

Arriving in a black Range Rover at around 8.30am - a good hour and a half before the scheduled kick off - he waved at the assembled bank of press photographers as he entered through a side door of the London court.

But outside the main entrance, the two dozen or so protesters who had gathered were not smiling.

Waving banners reading "Troops home", "Bliar" and "Afghanistan out", they greeted the former prime minister with an angry reception.

Mary Macmillan, a Fabian from Soho in London, carried a large knitted puppet of a judge bearing a sign on its chest reading "Blair the day of judgment".

The 78-year-old said: "I was a 1997 Labour Party person when Blair got his majority and I'm afraid he's proved a great let-down.

"We got very few things that he promised. The war in Afghanistan is the greatest treachery.

"I'm glad we could get here today because it's very difficult to get hold of Blair."

Anti-war artist Chris Holden, 69, from London, repeated the familiar argument that the Iraq war - Blair's most controversial act in office - had been "for the oil".

He asked: "Why can't they just come out and say (it?)"

Shouts of "traitor" also came from the small but dogged crowd determined to pursue the ex-premier wherever he turned up.

"Truth and justice is the central message", Mr Holden said.

But "justice" for the perceived wrongs of the Iraq war was not on the bill for the hearing about Blair's relationship with the media.