Diplomats start to panic over Britain's support for Bush

British diplomats were said to be in "a panic" last night about the damage being done to Britain's reputation abroad because of Tony Blair's support for President George Bush on Iraq.

British diplomats were said to be in "a panic" last night about the damage being done to Britain's reputation abroad because of Tony Blair's support for President George Bush on Iraq.

In an echo of the letter last month by 52 former diplomats protesting at support for US policy in the Middle East, some senior diplomats have privately urged the Foreign Office to distance the British Government from the Bush administration over the abuse of prisoners by US soldiers in Iraq.

A senior Foreign Office official said: "There are telegrams coming in. The diplomats are panicking a bit. Downing Street is determined to hold the line. We can't afford to panic now. To capitulate now would be disaster."

Tony Blair also faced demands by his most senior Labour backbenchers at a private meeting yesterday for the Prime Minister to distance himself from President Bush.

Labour backbenchers said Mr Blair should use the hard evidence of US abuse of prisoners documented in the report of the Red Cross in Iraq to force a shift of policy by President Bush.

"Some are saying the beheading of the US man has helped us but it hasn't," a Labour MP said. "We ought to tell Bush we need much faster progress on the UN."

Last month, 52 former diplomats took the unprecedented step of writing a joint letter of protest, calling on Mr Blair to abandon his support for the Bush policy on the Middle East, warning him that it was "doomed''. Senior diplomatic figures, including Lord Howe, the former foreign secretary, said at the time the retired diplomats were reflecting the "great anxiety'' in the Foreign Office among serving diplomats but the claims of panic last night are the first evidence that he was right.

The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, fuelled the speculation of unrest in the Foreign Office on Tuesday when he appeared to distance himself in the Commons from the hard evidence of brutality by the American military police.

Responding to a claim by a Labour MP that Britain must "share the shame'' of the US over the brutality against prisoners, Mr Straw said: "I do not accept your suggestion that responsibility for dealing with matters that lie within the US sectors is also shared by the UK."

But the Prime Minister's most senior aides refused last night to follow Mr Straw in drawing a line between the US and UK over prisoner abuse. One aide said Downing Street would not allow splits to develop in the partnership.

"There are allegations against British soldiers too. It is not a simple issue," a senior Blair aide said.

Mr Blair told MPs yesterday during Commons questions to the Prime Minister that there could be charges made soon in one or more of the cases of alleged brutality against prisoners by British soldiers. He also offered to allow the Red Cross to have permanent access to jails in the British sector in southern Iraq.

But he cast further doubt on the authenticity of the photographs by the Daily Mirror of alleged prisoner abuse by members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

The Ministry of Defence said investigations were still continuing by the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police but Mr Blair told the Commons: "The photographs are almost certainly fake."

In angry exchanges with Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative Party, Mr Blair said: "There is no evidence whatever either of systematic abuse or of ministers or anyone else refusing to act on allegations of abuse in respect of detainees in British custody."

Mr Blair infuriated his own side when he told Mr Howard to show more pride in the work being done by the British Armed Forces in Iraq. One left-wing Labour MP said: "Blair is using the patriotic card to try to shut us up."

Mr Howard attacked the failure of the Government to act more decisively on the Red Cross report. The Tory said the allegations and the Red Cross report had led to the "greatest crisis in Iraq since the war ended and have added immeasurably to the dangers and difficulties faced by coalition forces including British troops."

Mr Blair said the first time he saw the report was last Monday. He denied it had been passed to ministers in February, when it was given to the lawyers for Mr Blair's special emissary in Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock. The Prime Minister also said Britain was in discussions with UN partners about the withdrawal of troops from Iraq but Downing Street later made it clear there would be no early pull-out.

The elections next January for a new Iraqi government are seen as a "milestone" and are "not a deadline for withdrawing troops", A No. 10 spokesman said. Ken Purchase, who was an aide to Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, said: "If he [Mr Blair] intends to stay on, he must have a recovery plan for his popularity. That means he has to put distance between himself and President Bush, not only on Iraq but also on the issue of Palestine and Israel."