Blair puts Britain on war footing

3pm

UPDATED REPORT - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has put the country on a war footing after facing down the biggest party revolt in living memory.

Blair won parliamentary backing for war against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein today - but about one in three Labour members rebelled against him after a day of high drama in the House of Commons.

It was a bitter blow for Blair and followed the resignations of three cabinet ministers over his hawkish stance and unstinting support for US President George W. Bush.

Blair spent the day trying to convince parliament and doubting people that war was justified.

"We must not falter," Blair told a packed chamber in an impassioned speech aimed at the waverers, even hinting that he would resign if they did not back him in the biggest crisis of his six-year premiership.

Blair, who has already taken Britain to war in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, easily defeated a rebel motion with help from the opposition Conservatives.

The anti-war amendment was defeated by 396 votes to 217. Instead, parliament passed by a vote of 412 to 149 the government's rival measure demanding "all means necessary" be used to force Saddam to disarm.

Almost 140 of Blair's Labour colleagues rebelled despite a day of eloquent pleas by Blair in the mother of all parliaments and arm-twisting by his party managers.

At the end Labour Party Chairman John Reid said: "Now it is time for parliament and the country to unite, particularly behind our troops who face potential action."

Blair, accused in the past of shunning parliament, told a sombre and restrained chamber: "Back away now from this confrontation and future conflicts will be infinitely worse and more devastating."

With 45,000 British troops poised to strike in a looming war, Blair portrayed the Iraq crisis as a watershed in a dangerous new world.

Blair, pulling out all the stops in parliament to woo the doubters, even cancelled his weekly audience with The Queen, preferring to brief the monarch by phone.

Persuasive party managers went into overdrive during the debate that stretched out for almost 10 hours.

Outside parliament, demonstrators chanted their "No No No" protests against the war. Polls show most Britons -from churchmen to aid workers and pop stars - oppose war.

But Blair's eloquence in parliament won press praise. "Blair Force Won" trumpeted The Sun tabloid.

Times columnist Peter Riddell said: "Tony Blair has strengthened his authority as a national leader despite the record Commons revolt by Labour MPs... His personal position is not remotely in danger."

- REUTERS

Graphic: Forces within striking distance of Iraq

Herald Feature: Iraq