Blair warns the world of a 'living nightmare'

Tony Blair warned yesterday that the world would be "plunged into a living nightmare" unless it takes a stand to stop terrorist groups or rogue states using weapons of mass destruction.

The Prime Minister told a conference of the Welsh Labour Party in Swansea that, if the world did not rise to the first test of its determination to deal with this issue, "it will not be the end, it will only be the beginning for these extreme groups or terrorists".

He warned: "I tell you it is fear, not the fear that Saddam is about to launch a strike on a British town or city ... but the fear that one day these new threats of weapons of mass destruction, rogue states and international terrorism combine to deliver a catastrophe to our world. And the shame of knowing that I saw that threat day after day and did nothing to stop it. I cannot and I will not do that. No matter how hard the decision, I will try to do what I believe is right for our country."

Mr Blair insisted that backing away from the threat would not mean that Britain would "cease to be a target". He said: "If we do not take a stand now against the growth of this chemical, biological and nuclear weapons threat, then at some point a state or a terrorist group pursuing extremism with no care for human life will use such weapons. Not just Britain, but the world, will be plunged into a living nightmare from which we will struggle long and hard to awake."

In his first public comments on the unprecedented rebellion by 121 Labour MPs on Wednesday, Mr Blair said: "I don't ignore the voices of people who are opposed to the course we are taking. I understand why they take that view and I respect that view." But he added: "At some point, you have a duty if you are to offer any leadership to your country in saying why it is we believe there is a real threat from terrorism and these appalling, terrible weapons to the security and prosperity of our countries and to the wider world."

In a highly personal speech which struck a more conciliatory tone towards his Labour critics, Mr Blair told the Welsh party activists: "I know many of you find it hard to understand why I care so deeply about this." The answer, he said, was his fear of weapons of mass destruction getting into the hands of terrorists.

History had important lessons for the current crisis, Mr Blair said. He cited the example of Neville Chamberlain's efforts to appease Hitler before the Second World War. Chamberlain, said Mr Blair, turned out to be "a good man who made the wrong decision".

Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Mr Blair was looking "seriously vulnerable" for the first time since becoming Labour leader. He warned of possible "devastating" consequences of what he said was a rush by President George Bush and Mr Blair to table a second United Nations resolution on Iraq.

Mr Kennedy, at the Scottish Liberal Democrats' spring conference in Aberdeen, said: "You only have to look at the faces of backbench MPs when I'm talking about Iraq to see how many of them agree with me."