The Blair government was under mounting pressure last night to mobilise the international community in rejection of Zimbabwe's "flawed" election result. At the same time the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats warned that the future credibility of the Commonwealth now rested upon its response to President Robert Mugabe's claimed victory in the country's presidential poll.
10 Downing Street refused to be drawn on the possible implications for the Commonwealth ahead of a planned statement on the full report of the international monitors by the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, in the House of Commons this afternoon.
Mr Straw said the outcome of the election came as no surprise as it followed "a campaign of violence and intimidation". The British Government was still receiving reports from within Zimbabwe and would consult with the EU, the US and the Commonwealth before deciding what action to take.
However, the shadow foreign secretary and Deputy Conservative leader, Mr Michael Ancram, said Mr Mugabe had "stolen" the election. "The murder, torture and intimidation which have been in evidence for the last few months have all been clearly designed to rig this election," he said.
And he insisted: "The British Government should begin immediately to build a coalition with the objective of seeing democracy restored in Zimbabwe and Mugabe's evil and corrupt regime removed." The Liberal Democrat spokesman, Mr Menzies Campbell, said the Commonwealth's credibility now turned on its reaction to the election result. "By any standard the Mugabe regime displayed scant regard for human rights, ignored the rule of law and abused democratic principles," he declared. "The credibility of the Commonwealth can hardly be sustained if it takes no action."
That sentiment was echoed by the former Conservative Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, who chaired the Lancaster House talks which paved the way for majority rule in the former Rhodesia more than 20 years ago.
He said it was now up to the Commonwealth to act: "If the general feeling and evidence is that this election was unfair, then the Commonwealth ceases to have much meaning if they're going to go on having those members, a president and a government, that does that sort of thing." Lord Carrington continued: "I think the Commonwealth ceases to have much logical meaning if there is evidence that this has happened and that the election is unfair. Then what really is the Commonwealth about?"
Queen Elizabeth, now celebrating her Golden Jubilee Year, is particularly devoted to the Commonwealth.
However, the high state of political tension over its composition and future was revealed by South African President Thabo Mbeki's suggestion last week that it was Britain should leave, and by Prince Charles's reported belief that the Commonwealth was now "drinking in the last chance saloon".
Prompted by the refusal of several African states to suspend Zimbabwe, as proposed by Prime Minister Blair in Australia, the Prince of Wales reportedly made known to ministers and friends his view that "if the Comonwealth could not stand up for liberal democracy and human rights it deserved to be treated with international contempt."