Anti-war revolt rocks Blair

LONDON - President Jacques Chirac yesterday won broad support in the French National Assembly to resist war, but British Prime Minister Tony Blair's hawkish Iraq stance triggered the biggest revolt yet from his Labour Party in Parliament.

In the House of Commons, 122 Labour MPs backed an amendment declaring that the case for war was unproven. But Blair won the vote 393-199, thanks to his large parliamentary majority and the support of most opposition Conservatives.

After a highly charged six-hour debate dominated by antiwar speeches, almost 200 of the 659 MPs voted in favour of the cross-party amendment, saying the case for war was "as yet unproven".



The packed House of Commons then approved, by 434 votes to 124, a Government motion calling on Iraq to recognise it now had a "final opportunity" to disarm. Fifty-nine Labour MPs voted against the Government.

The rebellion was bigger than expected and stretched way beyond the 30 or 40 hardline antiwar Labour MPs.

The Labour doubters were joined by 13 Conservative and 52 Liberal Democrat MPs.

But the Government signalled that policy on Iraq would not change. One minister said: "We will take this into account, but it won't change anything. We have to do what has to be done."

Previously, the biggest revolt of Blair's premiership came when 67 Labour MPs voted against cuts to disability benefits in 1999.

Despite Blair's pledge that the vote was not a decision on a war, many MPs saw the debate as a last chance to register their concern.

The antiwar vote was much bigger than two recent rebellions over Iraq, in which 41 and 32 Labour MPs voted against the Government, and is a sign that opposition to military action is growing.

In Paris, Chirac won broad support for resisting war.

He made his case for giving UN arms inspectors more time and resources to an unconvinced Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar.

"We have a common goal of eliminating weapons of mass destruction in Iraq ... but we do not share the same view on the means to attain this goal," Chirac said after they met.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin told the National Assembly war could divide the world, worsen fractures in the Middle East and stoke terrorism.

In a tightly managed debate without a vote, Government and Opposition speakers joined in opposing a rush to war.

Opposition Socialist leader Francois Hollande goaded the Government to use France's Security Council veto to deny UN backing for US-led military action.

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS