Blair tells MPs: Why we must hold firm

Tony Blair today warned MPs that to pull back British troops from war in the Gulf would only strengthen the hand of dictators like Saddam Hussein.

Opening the Commons debate that could determine the long–term survivability of his Government, the Prime Minister appeared to hint that he would resign if the House voted against military action.

"I would not be a party to such a course," he declared.

Downing Street refused to be drawn on whether Mr Blair's comments were intended as a resignation threat.

"We expect a majority," a spokesman said.

Nevertheless his comments revealed the high stakes as Mr Blair sought to face down the critics on his own backbenches.

He went into the Commons chamber having seen two more of his ministers quit – Home Office Minister John Denham and Health Minister Lord Hunt announcing that they were going following Robin Cook's resignation last night as Leader of the House of Commons.

In an impassioned appeal for support, he said that Britain could not afford to back down in the face of the "clear and present danger" to UK national security posed by Iraq's development of mass destruction.

"If this House now demands that at this moment, faced with this threat from this regime, that British troops are pulled back, that we turn away at the point of reckoning – and that is what it means – what then?" he said.

"What will Saddam feel? Strengthened beyond measure. What will the other states who tyrannise their people, the terrorists who threaten our existence, what will they take from that? That the will confronting them is decaying and feeble.

"This is not the time to falter. It is time for this House to give a lead to show that we will stand up for what we know to be right."

The debate opened as the Iraqi leadership rejected the ultimatum issued last night by US President George Bush demanding Saddam and his sons leave the country or be removed by force.

An official statement read out on Iraqi television declared: "Iraq doesn't chose its path through foreigners and doesn't choose its leaders by decree from Washington, London or Tel Aviv.

"The pathetic Bush was hoping ... to achieve his evil targets without a fight through that declaration which reflects a state of isolation and defeat from which he and his pathetic allies are suffering."

With the Tories backing the Government in tonight's vote, Mr Blair was not expected to lose.

However he could face a bigger rebellion than the 121 Labour MPs who voted against the Government the last Iraq debate, leaving him dangerously dependant on Conservative support.

In his speech, Mr Blair repeatedly blamed the French for the break down of negotiations at the United Nations to secure agreement on a new Security Council resolution authorising war.

He said that Britain and the US had "very nearly" had a majority for new resolution but had been blocked by President Jacques Chirac's threat to use his veto, "whatever the circumstances".

"I am not prepared to carry on waiting and delaying with our troops down there in circumstances of great difficulty when that country has made it clear that is a fixed position and will not change it," he said.

In an apparent put down of Mr Cook's claim in his resignation statement that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction (WMD) "capable of wiping out cities", Mr Blair said "no serious intelligence service anywhere in the world" believed that Iraq did not have WMD.