The British Prime Minister this evening won parliamentary approval for war with Iraq despite a slight increase in the number of Labour MPs voting against the British Government's war on Iraq.
Some 217 MPs voted for a "rebel" amendment, put forward by the former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle which called the war "illegal, immoral and illogical". This was easily defeated with 396 MPs voting against it.
While the Prime Minister will be relieved to have won that vote and also a second motion supporting the use of "all means necessary" to ensure Iraq's disarmament he will be disappointed that the number of Labour Party rebels has increased slightly.
Earlier, in a 8-hour debate leading up to the vote among members of parliament Mr Blair had brushed aside the protest resignations of three of his ministers and fiercely defended his decision to lead Britain towards a US-led war on Iraq.
Mr Blair said a failure to deal with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would lead other nations to think that they too can develop weapons of mass destruction with impunity.
And he warned that the Iraqi leader would be strengthened "beyond measure" if the world fails to tackle his weapons of mass destruction.
"Who will celebrate and who will weep if we pull our troops back now?" he said.
"This is a tough choice," Blair told a jam-packed House of Commons in a shaking voice.
"But it is also a stark one - to stand British troops down and turn back; or to hold firm to the course we have set," he said. "I believe we must hold firm."
Mr Blair also said he was "sad" to have seen French President Jacques Chirac, who has insisted on more time to be given to UN arms inspections, so determined to veto a fresh UN resolution on Iraq. "Our fault has not been impatience. The truth is our patience should have been exhausted weeks and months and even years ago," said the prime minister, who has been US President George W. Bush's staunchest ally on Iraq.
The outcome of the Iraq crisis, he added, would "determine the pattern of international politics for the next generation."
In a show of unity, Blair was flanked by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon.
Yesterday, the leader of the House of Commons, Mr Robin Cook, who had been Mr Blair's foreign secretary during the 1999 Kosovo war, quit the government in protest over Britain going to war without fresh UN backing.
He was followed today by junior health minister Lord Philip Hunt and junior home office minister John Denham.
But in the day's surprise turn, International Development Secretary Clare Short -- who nine days ago called Blair's Iraq policy "extraordinarily reckless" -- dropped her threat to resign.