Mr Tony Blair has warned against "raising false hopes" for the freedom of British hostage Mr Kenneth Bigley as the Prime Minister battles to turn the spotlight from Iraq to the domestic political agenda at Labour's Brighton conference.
Mr Bigley's brother, Paul, however, last night said he had received information that his brother was still alive. Addressing a Labour conference fringe meeting via audio link, he begged the Prime Minister to help save his brother. "All I am asking is for communication. Just simply send a bloody fax pleading for my brother's life." He also said that if Mr Blair continued with his present Iraq policy, he should be removed from office.
Mr Blair acknowledged there were limits to what his government could do given "the nature of the people" holding him captive.
Last night Downing Street said that Mr Blair had again spoken by telephone to the Bigley family.
Mr Bigley's 86-year-old mother, Mrs Elizabeth Bigley, was taken ill and hospitalised on Saturday following a seemingly false claim on an Islamic website that her son had been killed by followers of the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
As two British Muslim leaders seeking Mr Bigley's release met Iraqi president Ghazi Yawer in Baghdad yesterday, Mr Blair insisted his government was doing everything it "properly and legitimately" could.
However, his response to questions about his government's perceived impotence in face of the kidnappers' ruthlessness underlined the fear of Labour Party managers that Mr Bigley's captors may be acting with regard to a conference season representing an important period in the British political calendar.
Asked if he felt his government was "impotent" to deal with the situation, Mr Blair said: "Insofar as it is possible to do things, we are doing them. I won't go into the details for obvious reasons. But we are doing everything we properly and legitimately can and I think and hope people understand that."
Speaking on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, Mr Blair spoke of his feelings on viewing Mr Bigley's heart-rending video plea for his help: "My first reaction is the reaction of anyone, which is real sympathy and anger at how he is being held by these people and an earnest hope that, despite all the difficulties, we can do something. But I just don't know if we are able to or not."
As Mr Blair likened the ongoing battle for control in Iraq to the dark days of the second World War, a mixed bag of opinion polls over the weekend fuelled the fears of delegates travelling to Brighton that Labour is suffering a continuing backlash over the war and that Mr Blair himself is in danger of becoming an electoral liability. And internal party tensions were further heightened yesterday - on the eve of Mr Gordon Brown's big conference speech - when the Chancellor appeared to confirm a further decline in his relationship with Mr Blair following the Prime Minister's decision to replace him as Labour's chief election strategist.
Mr Blair's aides are nervously awaiting Mr Brown's speech to see if he exacts revenge for the recent re-shuffle which saw former Health Secretary Mr Alan Milburn restored to the cabinet and handed Mr Brown's old campaigning job.
But Mr Brown made his feelings on Mr Blair pretty explicit in a Sunday Telegraph interview. Asked if their working relationship was still "strong", Mr Brown replied tartly: "I've got my job to do and he's got his. It's as simple as that."
Mr Brown also appeared to confirm in effect that he had talked Mr Blair out of announcing last spring that he intended to stand down as premier this autumn. At the same time Mr Blair again dismissed speculation to this effect.
Mr Blair also acknowledged that some of the intelligence used to justify the Iraq war had proved to be unreliable, while making clear he would not be appearing before conference tomorrow to apologise for the war itself. "What some people want me to do is say sorry for getting rid of Saddam and that I cannot say because I do not believe it," he declared.