Opposition MPs give troops '100 per cent support'

Politicians united to express support for the "extraordinary courage" of British troops yesterday but some rebel Labour MPs voiced deep unease about the "bombing of children" in Iraq.

As Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, confirmed the military campaign against Iraq had begun, the Tories and Liberal Democrats said British forces had their "100 per cent support".

Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, said UK forces had his "undying admiration". He hoped they would "return safely with the badge of honour of having freed the Iraqi people from the terrible tyranny of Saddam Hussein".

Paul Keetch, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, praised the acumen of British armed forces after Mr Hoon announced they were "already engaged in certain operations". Mr Keetch said: "They will perform whatever tasks they are set with extraordinary courage and great skill and they are a credit to our nation."

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said he would "unequivocally welcome a short campaign" and hoped British troops would return without "damage or loss of life".

But some Labour MPs who voted against war continued to condemn the assault on Iraq, raising concerns over the "moral and legal justification" for a strike. Glenda Jackson, a former transport minister, said she continued to be "totally opposed to the war" and was "concerned about our troops. I haven't forgotten who has put them in clear and present danger," the MP for Hampstead and Highgate said. "I am concerned not only about civilian casualties, but the civilian infrastructure. If they are going to go for water supplies and pump stations and electricity this could have a devastating effect."

Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, said aid money for the humanitarian effort in Iraq should be channelled through agencies that had "clean hands. On that basis [it] would at least allow us, as a government, to avoid having to explain the morally ambiguous position of bombing the children and then offering to feed those who survive," he said.

George Galloway, Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin, criticised Mr Hoon and said Britain was isolated in backing military action. "[Hans Blix] has denounced the action which the minister has just been boasting about this morning, as have an overwhelming number of world leaders, including some of our closest friends," he said.

The Green Party said sending British troops to the Gulf was wrong. "The best way to support them is to get them home," said Kevin Cranston, a former lieutenant-colonel in the Army Air Corps, now a Green Party councillor in Stroud. "It is an abuse of the loyalty and possibly the lives of British soldiers to use them in an immoral war which a majority of Britons oppose and which has no UN backing."

Bernard Jenkin, Tory Defence spokesman, asked Mr Hoon to give military commanders in the Gulf the "necessary autonomy to act quickly and flexibly to seize opportunities as they arise".