London protest march delivers message to Blair

By ANNE McHARDY in London

Thousands upon thousands - 350,000 some organisers claimed, at least 150,000 even the police agreed - marched peacefully to demonstrate British opposition to Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George Bush's declared intention to go to war against Iraq.

Under a crisp, blue autumn sky yesterday, they wended their way through the centre of London, along the Thames Embankment and to Hyde Park.

The sheer weight of numbers and the social diversity of the marchers will inevitably cause concerns when the Labour Party begins its annual political conference today.

The marchers included many of Labour's core voters, something being reflected in opinion polls showing the dossier of evidence Blair presented to Parliament last week, attempting to prove the dangers from Saddam Hussein, was widely regarded as unconvincing.

Yesterday's march attracted as wide a cross section of people as has followed banners to Hyde Park, the traditional rallying point of non-violent protests.

Students, children and Muslims marched with bishops and MPs.

The march was described by observers as the largest peace march seen in Britain. Again and again the cheerful crowd repeated the belief that even their weight of numbers might be ignored by the Government.

In Hyde Park London's Mayor, Ken Livingstone, who said the organisers, himself included, expected to "scrape 150,000", pointedly said that the sheer numbers would have an inevitable effect on Blair and the Labour conference.

The conference is already fraught with potential rows over education, courtesy of the fiasco over A-level results, the school-leaving exam taken by 18-year-olds and over private investment in public services.

What is certain is that New Labour is not going to achieve as smoothly orchestrated a conference as it has in the past.

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