BRITAIN: A defiant Mr Tony Blair was again standing shoulder to shoulder with the US over Iraq last night, with a promise to produce a dossier of evidence against Saddam Hussein within weeks.
However the British Prime Minister dramatically raised the temperature of debate inside the Labour Party as he appeared to move toward the possibility of "regime change" in Iraq and insisted the United Nations should not be the means of delay in resolving the issue of Saddam's development of weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Blair confronted his party's growing anti-war party head-on during a press conference in his Sedgefield constituency, insisting the Iraqi regime posed a "real and unique" threat to the Middle East and the wider world, and that the US should not have to deal with the issue alone.
"This isn't just an issue for the US," he declared. "It is an issue for Britain, it is an issue for the wider world.
"America shouldn't have to face this issue alone, we should face it together."
Mr Blair added: "Where we are in absolute agreement is that: Iraq poses a real and a unique threat to the security of the region and the rest of the world; that Saddam Hussein is continuing in his efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction - that means a biological, chemical and nuclear weapons capability; that he is in breach of UN resolutions; and that, confronted with this reality, we have to face up to it and deal with it."
Maintaining that no decisions had yet been reached, Mr Blair continued: "How we deal with it. . . is under discussion but that we have to do it is not in doubt. We have to face up to it, we have to deal with it and we will. The issue then is what is the best way of proceeding."
Mr Blair suggested Iraqi non-compliance with UN requirements over weapons' inspections was stretching the 10-year-old policy of "containment" and appeared to move closer to Washington's preferred policy of "pre-emption".
At the same time, he gave the clearest signal to date that "regime change" in Iraq might yet become a goal of British foreign policy.
"Either the regime starts to function in an entirely different way, and there has not been much sign of that, or the regime has to change. That's the choice," he said.
And, comparing his support for the US on this issue to his backing for President Bush following the terror attacks of September 11th last year, Mr Blair warned: "If September 11th teaches us anything, it teaches us the importance of not waiting for the threat to materialize but, when we can see the signs of that threat in front of us, dealing with it."
Mr Blair said nothing about a possible deadline for Iraqi compliance with UN requirements while insisting that, even if weapons inspectors were re-admitted, it would be necessary to ensure any new weapons inspection regime was effective.
"The important thing is that the UN has to be the route for dealing with this problem rather than the means of avoiding it," he said.
While it would be "better to do this with the broadest possible basis of international support", Mr Blair added that "it does have to be done and we have to make sure there are not people who are simply going to turn a blind eye to this."
The Conservative's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael Ancram, backed Mr Blair last night "in demonstrating from the information available to him, which he will soon publish, that weapons of mass destruction in Iraq continue to be developed, that they pose a real and growing threat to us [in Britain] and that they must be dealt with."
However the "Father" of the House of Commons, veteran Labour MP Mr Tam Dalyell, repeated his demand for the early recall of parliament.
"It is all too clear from his Sedgefield press conference that the British Prime Minister is committed to a policy of regime change in Iraq. This is an additional reason for an early recall of parliament to discuss the fundamental issues of principle," he said.
Meanwhile Labour MP Mr George Galloway, who visited Saddam Hussein last month, denounced Mr Blair's "shallow, Reader's Digest account of the realities in the Middle East" and said the British people were "being driven close to a cliff".