Doors slam shut on fire strike compromise: 'There's no way out'

Just before 9am, the forecourt brazier was kicked over and fire extinguishers skilfully employed to stifle the last stubborn flames. Mugs were collected, yellow hats donned and ash swept away. By the time the bells of nearby St Pancras church rang out nine times across the station, the 13 members of Euston fire station's Green Watch were standing to attention in front of their fire engines, ready for the start of their shift.

As the eight-day strike drew to a close yesterday, the returning firefighters must have wished the bitter industrial dispute that took them to the picket lines could be so easily cleared up and brought to order. But after a week in which their leader, Andy Gilchrist, has felt the full force of a once-wounded government machine, few really believed it could be – except Mr Gilchrist himself, perhaps. He ended it with his most vociferous attack yet on Tony Blair, criticising the Prime Minister over his use of funds for a war with Iraq.

The lengthy stoppage had simply served to harden positions. And attempts of both sides to out-tough each other antagonised an already fractious situation.

Those negotiating behind the scenes for a compromise outcome said they were "confused". "Any exits – for the FBU or the Government – have been slammed shut. There's no way out now," said one MP who has acted as a conduit between the two sides.

The first real sign that this would be a dirty fight to the death came at the beginning of last week when Mr Blair swept aside his bungling ministerial team to take charge. What so far had been an abysmal government PR campaign was about to change.

A press conference was called at which journalists were told bluntly that this was a fight the Fire Brigades Union could not win. Then came the briefings – approved and freelance. There were whispers of "restrictive practices", detailed explanations of why modernisation alone can finance the firefighters' pay rise, tales of second jobs facilitated by an outdated shift system and praise – by the bucketload – for the Army.

And there it was: the evidence. Firefighters came just 23rd in a list of the 30 most dangerous jobs; 500 firefighters had part-time second jobs as London taxi drivers; Mr Gilchrist was paid £82,000 and was living it up while his members shivered on picket lines.

Was it true? Who cared? The Prime Minister had said he'd win and winning was all that mattered. His ministers rallied round. Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, colourfully described a trade union official as "not fit to lace the boots" of the soldiers operating the Green Goddesses.

And to emphasise the point, Mr Blair himself ended the week with a visit to a Territorial Army base in Darlington. The pictures of the PM flanked by squaddies could not have been clearer. He'd declared war.

Mr Gilchrist, the FBU's general secretary, did not shrink from taking up the challenge. A day later – after the latest talks to solve the pay dispute ended with no new deal and no new proposals – he was on his feet before a meeting in Manchester, vowing to "work to replace New Labour with real Labour".

But his words rang hollow. He still had nothing to take to his executive ahead of its meeting tomorrow. And the FBU's spin operation – assisted by those firefighters who made the front pages by breaking picket lines to rescue women and children and cut people out of crashed cars – was floundering.

Despite the FBU's assertion that when the Government said "modernise", it meant "cut jobs" – echoed by John Prescott's unexpected admission that the proposed new fire service system was predicated on 11,000 fewer firefighters – the public mood had turned against them.

The latest polling data showed that only 40 per cent of the public was on the firefighters' side while 56 per cent was opposed. And yet as the public support appeared to be falling away, political support for the firefighters was gathering momentum.

The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs was planning its launch of a "Save Our Fire Service" campaign this week. The trade union group of MPs was beginning to admit that "while we've so far been supportive of what the Government is trying to do, people are getting concerned about the language which is being used and the failure to get it sorted".

But their agenda had little to do with the latest row over whether the firefighters should get a 16 per cent pay rise pegged to modernisation in two years or three years. Their concern was the future of the Labour Party's historic link with the unions. And they are determined to protect it from No 10's "anti-trade unionists who want to kill us off".

It is a link that is, at the very least, extremely lucrative in a climate in which private donations to the Labour Party are proportionately declining. But, in a threat that should at least shake Mr Blair, the FBU's trade union colleagues – in the TUC, Amicus, Unison, the GMB, and the Transport and General Workers' Union – are standing firm. One union source said discussions about a new funding deal between Labour and the unions was "on the backburner". "There is no way trade union executives will sign up to greater funding of the Labour Party against the background of this fire dispute," he said.

It is unlikely, though, that Mr Blair or even Mr Gilchrist will crack before the firefighters themselves do.

The picket line at Euston was "frustrated", "determined to see it through", and "solid". But one word was on everyone's lips as they prepared to stare into an almost empty pay packet: Christmas.

Call-outs and hoaxes: the strike by numbers

* Ten people died in fires over the past eight days. The Government says the expected number of fire-related deaths over an eight-day period would be 13.

* The last victim, an elderly man, was in a house blaze in South Gosforth, Newcastle, yesterday. Military teams had arrived at the scene at 7.40am, where they were joined by local firefighters who had crossed their picket line.

* Military crews responded to a total of 10,281 emergency calls for the strike period up until Friday at midnight. The Government said it would expect 20,500 callouts in the same period.

* Of the 10,281 calls, 2,558 turned out to be false alarms, and 936 were for non-fire related incidents.

* The busiest day of the second strike was Sunday 24 November, when military personnel responded to 1,736 emergency calls.

* The next eight-day strike is due to begin on Wednesday.