Of course it was, for the reasons given in the article and surely also because we need a stable region in which to trade. Saddam was, since he invaded Kuwait, a source of instability and had to go.
The problem is that we, the British public, are too sensitive to the realities of our relatively high standard of living, and so had to be lied to. Blair did us a favour, frankly, and as usual with us, gets flak for it.