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LONDON - Tony Blair avoided a humiliating defeat over Iraq last night when the British government headed off all-party demands for an inquiry into the Iraq war and its aftermath.
The Commons voted down calls for an immediate investigation by 298 votes to 273, a Government majority of 25.
During a debate which revealed continuing Labour unease over Iraq, the vote was too close to call and until the very last minute, Labour whips were putting pressure on backbenchers not to embarrass the Government.
Fifty years to the day after Britain bombed Egypt during the Suez crisis which later brought down the Prime Minister Anthony Eden, Mr Blair was absent from the Commons for a tetchy three-hour debate - the first full-scale one on Iraq since July 2004.
Although about 15 Labour MPs voted against the Government, Mr Blair appeared to have been saved by the reluctance of more backbenchers to join forces with the Tories and Scottish and Welsh Nationalists.
The debate was called by the Scottish Nationalist Party and Plaid Cymru, who tabled a motion calling for an immediate inquiry by a group of privy counsellors.
They won the backing of the Liberal Democrats, who opposed the war, and the Tory Opposition, which supported the invasion but is trying to distance itself from Mr Blair's actions.
The Tories wanted an inquiry by an independent committee of privy counsellors to be set up next year but backed an immediate investigation after the Government refused to guarantee an inquiry would be held to learn the lessons from Iraq.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, hinted strongly that such an investigation would be held eventually.
"It is perfectly sensible and legitimate to say that there will come a time when these issues will be explored in the round and in full so that we can learn whatever lessons we can from them," she said.
However, that would not take place until after Mr Blair stands down next year.
Mrs Beckett insisted that an immediate inquiry would send the "wrong signals at the wrong time", be interpreted as a weakening of Britain's commitment and be "politically and militarily damaging."
She admitted the situation in Iraq was "unquestionably delicate and difficult" but painted a surprisingly optimistic picture of the country's prospects, claiming that it could potentially be "at a turning point." She hoped that all Iraq's 18 provinces could be handed over to Iraqi control by the end of next year.
Rejecting an immediate withdrawal of British troops, Mrs Beckett added: "At this critical juncture, when Iraq's future hangs so clearly in the balance it would be wrong - plainly and simply wrong - to heed those who argue for us just to wash our hands of responsibility and walk away."
William Hague, the Tories' shadow foreign secretary, said Mrs Beckett had made a mistake by refusing to guarantee an inquiry at some point in the future.
Urging Tory MPs to back an immediate investigation, he said one was needed into an operation that was "so vast, so expensive, so chequered with success and failures."
Shrugging off Labour charges of political opportunism, Mr Hague said the claim that an inquiry would damage the morale of British troops in Iraq did "not bear serious scrutiny."
He added: "The case for a searching inquiry at the right time is sufficiently strong that the Government should have no problem in acceding to it and I am astonished that it is not able to do so."
Demands for an inquiry were fuelled when the Ministry of Defence admitted that the Iraq conflict had cost British taxpayers £4 billion ($7.6 billion). It said the war cost £950 million in the last financial year, up £50 million on 2004-05.
It cost £1.3 billion in 2003-04 and £847 million in 2002-03.
- INDEPENDENT
