BRITAIN: The British Prime Minister's office has dismissed suggestions of a growing and fundamental divide between London and Washington over the issue of Saddam Hussein and Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
As the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, returned from holiday to face mounting domestic and international opposition to a second Gulf War, his spokesman at Downing Street insisted the United Kingdom and United States were "100 per cent agreed" that Iraq's alleged weapons build-up had to be dealt with.
For Labour's growing anti-war party there was again the apparent reassurance that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could resolve the issue by re-admitting UN weapons inspectors. And speculation about emerging "clear blue water" between the UK and US was further fuelled by the disclosure that a senior adviser to Mr Blair had complained bitterly to US counterparts that President Bush had done "nothing" to help the Prime Minister make the case for military action against Iraq. Downing Street had earlier declined to comment on the claim by Mr Richard Holbrooke, the former US ambassador to the United Nations.
However, Mr Blair's official spokesman continued to leave all options open yesterday, encouraging some observers to conclude that the apparent conflict over weapons inspections versus "regime change" in Iraq might prove to have more to do with "process' than end conclusions.
The spokesman again recalled the Prime Minister's Texas declaration that the world would be a better place without Saddam Hussein while stressing that the "primary concern" must be the reduction and elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
However, he added: "We have to press for weapons inspectors but bear in mind that Saddam Hussein has played games with that before and think through what happens if he does not comply." That was consistent with Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw's acknowledgement on Tuesday that weapons inspectors, even if re-admitted, might be unable to do their job or else conclude that Saddam posed a continuing threat. In anticipation of such an outcome, Mr Straw explained Britain had not ruled out the possible need for military action and said the US was likewise "prudent" not to do so.
Meanwhile former foreign office minister, Mr Tony Lloyd, reflected the dark suspicion of many Labour MPs that so-called "hawks" were talking President Bush into inevitable military conflict. "The really worrying thing," he told the BBC "is that the more the hawks in that administration talk up military action the more difficult it will be for President Bush to pull back from a conflict."
His warning came as US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld compared the White House policy of seeking the removal of the Iraqi leader to Winston Churchill's warnings about Adolf Hitler before the second World War. To Mr Rumsfeld's assertion that it was more important the US make the right decision than win international support, Mr Lloyd said if the US was not consulting Mr Blair that would represent "a serious pause" in the Anglo American relationship.
At the same time, he appeared to reflect continuing Labour distrust about Mr Blair's intentions - complaining of "so little certainty from Washington and, frankly, the British Government" - and suggesting it was "almost inevitable" the issue would now dominate Labour's conference next month.
UN sanction of force against Iraq is crucial - Richard Holbrooke; Opinion, page 16; Editorial comment: page 17