Alawi to meet Blair for talks and dismiss Annan's claims

1.00pm - By COLIN BROWN

Iyad Alawi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, will meet Tony Blair on Sunday for talks in London and brush aside the claims by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, that the war on Iraq was illegal.

Mr Annan also warned that the planned elections in January for the new Iraqi administration would not be credible if the current level of violence continued.

Mr Blair, in giving his support to Mr Alawi, will insist that the elections go ahead to demonstrate to the rest of the Middle East that democracy can take root after the conflict.

However, Mr Blair was condemned last night by one of his own backbenchers for seeing Mr Alawi.

Alan Simpson, vice chairman of the leftwing Campaign Group of Labour MPs said: "It is offensive that Alawi is coming here. Everyone knows he is Bush's choice. He will not take the country into meaningful democracy. He will take Iraq towards the same war-lordism as Afghanistan."

Cabinet ministers played down Mr Annan's remarks about the legality of the war.

Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, yesterday dismissed Mr Annan's remarks on the BBC World Service, insisting that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, had made it clear that he believed Britain was acting lawfully.

"We spelt out at the time our reasons for believing the conflict in Iraq was indeed lawful and why we believed it was necessary to uphold those UN resolutions," she said.

Ms Hewitt said there was disagreement between international lawyers over the legality of the war.

She said she respected Mr Annan's views on the matter and regretted the fact that the Government disagreed with him.

Mr Annan said: "I have stated clearly that it was not in conformity with the Security Council, with the UN Charter."

The Secretary General added there should have been a second UN resolution before the war on Iraq.

He then went on: "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view and from the Charter point of view, it was illegal."

Clare Short last night said Mr Annan's remarks showed Mr Blair had broken ministerial codes of conduct by acting illegally. Ms Short said the ministerial code of conduct laid down a requirement on ministers to uphold international law.

"I think this shows clearly that Tony Blair breached the ministerial code of conduct," said Ms Short.

Ms Short, who resigned from the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development, told The Independent last night the Butler report had shed new light on the efforts by Mr Blair to persuade the Attorney General to give legal backing to the war.

The Butler report into the intelligence failings over Iraq disclosed that Lord Goldsmith required Mr Blair to put in writing an assurance that it was necessary to go to war to enforce UN resolution 1441.

"Tony Blair gave a private assurance to the Attorney General when he was saying that the Attorney had said the war was legal. This was completely unknown to the Cabinet and senior officials across Whitehall at the time," said Ms Short.

There was cross-party criticism in the Commons of the Government over Mr Annan's remarks.

Liberal Democrat MPs challenged the leader of the House, Peter Hain, over the legality of the war.

Mr Simpson said: "Kofi Annan's remarks are dynamite. There would not have been a Parliamentary majority on the war had Parliament received this advice before the vote on the war."

Labour Against the War, which is holding a rally on the opening day of Labour's annual conference in Brighton on 26 September, has called on France and members of the general council of the UN to refer the US and Britain to the international court over the legality of the war, he added.

Colonel Tim Collins, whose eve-of-battle remarks to British troops were praised by President George W Bush, condemned the failure of the US and UK to prepare for the aftermath of the war.

Col Collins, who has now quit the Army, said: "If you knock something down, you must be prepared to put something in its place or live with the consequences of that which fills the vacuum."

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Herald Feature: Iraq