Global Policy Forum

By Patrick Wintour

Tony Blair yesterday admitted he was risking everything politically on his determination to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, as he briefed MPs on his belief that President George Bush and the rest of the UN security council will endorse a second resolution backing the claim that Iraq is breaching UN resolutions.

Mr Blair's frank admission of his precarious position came when he gave his report to MPs on his Washington summit with Mr Bush last Friday. Mr Blair came from the summit content that he had won the reluctant support of Mr Bush to seek a second UN resolution before military action.

Mr Blair told MPs: "We are entering the final phase of a 12-year history of the disarmament of Iraq." He added that there was unmistakable evidence that Iraq was in breach of UN resolutions. He was speaking ahead of today's Anglo-French summit with the French president, Jacques Chirac, at Le Touquet. The French are not yet convinced that the UN weapons inspectors have amassed sufficient evidence to justify a war.

Mr Blair made an implicit plea to Mr Chirac to rise to his responsibilities, pointing out that Britain before the second world war had nearly succumbed to appeasement. He also invested greater authority than before in the ultimate stance of Dr Blix, the chief weapons inspector. Mr Blair argued: "Should Dr Blix continue to report Iraqi non-cooperation, a second resolution should be passed confirming such a mate rial breach." He said the inspectors had been sent to Iraq in part to certify if the Iraqis were willing to cooperate. He insisted that Mr Bush had agreed with him on the importance of seeking a second UN resolution, but indicated that the resolution might simply report that Iraq is in breach of previous UN resolutions, leaving the response of the international community for each individual country to decide.

At one point Mr Blair said: "When people ask me why am I willing to risk everything on this politically, I do not want to be the prime minister when people point the finger back from history and say: 'You know those two threats were there and you did nothing about it'."

Mr Blair came under his strongest attack yet from the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, who questioned whether intelligence briefings being leaked by the British and the US could be trusted as reliable proof of the need for military action.

Mr Kennedy said: "If the Americans decide to take some form of pre-emptive action before the weapons inspectors are able to complete their task, this country will have to be clear-cut as to where its sense of allegiance lies."

He went on: "Do you recognise... that by making war appear somehow now to be inevitable it is hard for the public to believe that the president of the US and yourself are actually objective about the task in front of the weapons inspectors?"

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