Blair: I will risk my political future over Iraq

PM admits he has failed to convince Britons of need for military action

Tony Blair admitted yesterday that he could be risking his political survival by taking a firm stance on Iraq. He appealed to the United States and France to back a fresh United Nations resolution authorising war.

Speaking on the eve of a summit with the French President, Jacques Chirac, in Le Touquet at which he will try to bridge the divide between Europe and America, a defiant Mr Blair told the Commons he was not prepared to take the "easy option".

The Prime Minister admitted the British public was not yet convinced of the need for military action, but he told MPs: "When people say to me why are you risking everything in a sense, politically, on this issue I say to them in all honesty I do not want to be the Prime Minister when people point the finger back at history and say you knew perfectly well those two threats [weapons of mass destruction and terrorism] were there and you did nothing about it."

With America reluctant to allow negotiations on a second UN resolution to delay military action and France opposing a war, Mr Blair tried to narrow the differences by warning that the "integrity" of the UN was at stake. To President George Bush, Mr Blair's message was: "I continue to believe the UN is the right way to proceed." To President Chirac and other doubters, Mr Blair warned that the UN's credibility would lie in ruins if the world sent a "signal of weakness over Iraq". He continued: "Show weakness now and no one will believe us when we try to show strength in the future. If having made a demand backed up by a threat of force, we fail to enforce that demand, the result will not be peace or security. It will simply be returning to confront the issue again later with the world less stable, the will of the international community less certain, and those repressive states or terrorist groups who would destroy our way of life emboldened and undeterred."

In a Commons statement, Mr Blair said he was "more hopeful" progress on the Middle East peace process could be made in the medium term. "I had a very good and constructive set of talks with President Bush on that," he said.

The Prime Minister faced hostile questions from Labour MPs. Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, said: "There are many people who feel, like me, that we are being led by the nose into war." Derek Foster, MP for Bishop Auckland and a former chief whip, said: "There will be profound implications for the long-term security of the world if the United States was to take international law into its own hands." The former Labour MP Tony Benn, back in Britain after meeting President Saddam Hussein on Sunday, said Mr Blair held "an effective veto" on war. "If he says to Bush, 'I'm sorry, I can't go along with you', Bush would find it very difficult to go," he said.

British officials are nervous France's opposition to war will overshadow a press conference by the two leaders today. Mr Blair, who had a stand-up row with President Chirac at an EU summit last October, will try to avoid another public dispute. One Blair aide said: "Relations between the two governments on a whole range of issues are good. The problem is Chirac. He is unpredictable."

Denis MacShane, Britain's minister for Europe, said: "Britain and France are like a centuries-old married couple. There are times when we want to kill each other but we would never dream of divorcing."