BRITAIN: Mr Tony Blair last night bowed to pressure from all sides and agreed to recall the Westminster Parliament to discuss the gathering international crisis over Iraq.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr Michael Martin, agreed "in principle" to the Prime Minister's request to recall MPs from their summer break, although no date was formally announced.
However, it seems Downing Street's preferred date is Tuesday September 24th, just one day after the opening of the Liberal Democrat conference. The expectation is that Mr Blair's promised dossier of "evidence" against Saddam Hussein will be published shortly before the planned one-day debate on an issue which has deeply divided the Labour Party, possibly to coincide with a cabinet meeting on September 23rd. It also seemed clear last night that Downing Street is not planning to have a vote on the question of possible military action.
A prime ministerial statement will be followed by a debate opened by the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, concluding with a formal motion for the adjournment of the House.
Left-wing Labour MPs are certain to attempt to divide the Commons and force a vote on military action. However, the Prime Minister yesterday insisted his government was "not yet at the stage of making decisions about military commitments with regard to Iraq."
In his letter to Mr Martin, Mr Blair explained his reason for seeking a recall of MPs sometime during the week beginning September 23rd.
"By then, important discussions at the UN will have taken place. And the government will be in a position to publish the dossier that is being prepared on what we know about the Iraqi regime and its weapons of mass destruction programme. This should allow Parliament to debate the issue with the fullest possible knowledge."
Mr Blair reiterated that "parliament must and will be at the heart of national debate on the issue of Iraq." However, while he understood why some MPs - including the "father" of the Commons, Mr Tam Dalyell - had pressed for an earlier recall, Mr Blair told the Speaker: "I would repeat that we are not at the stage of making decisions about military commitments with regard to Iraq, and that should we be so in the future, Parliament would obviously be given every opportunity to express its view."
The Leader of the Commons, Mr Robin Cook, later confirmed that the "logical" decision had been taken to have MPs assemble after publication of the government's promised dossier. And while Liberal Democrat MPs were concerned about the probable collision with their party conference, their leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, welcomed the decision. He is to discuss the Iraqi situation, and issues around the recall of parliament, at a meeting with Mr Blair later today.
The Conservative leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, also welcomed Mr Blair's move, which in effect had become inevitable following the Tory leader's own decision to join opposition calls for a recall as early as next week.