Mr Tony Blair put Britain on a war footing last night as Mr Robin Cook dramatically quit his Cabinet to lead Labour mutiny at home, writes Frank Millar, London Editor
And International Development Secretary Ms Clare Short left the British Prime Minister guessing about her intentions as she took a long night of the soul to consider her position over the imminent war with Iraq before today's crucial vote in the House of Commons.
Mr Blair will lead the debate seeking MPs' backing for military action following the collapse of a diplomatic process he had confidently assured them would result in a second UN Security Council resolution giving explicit authority for the use of force.
With the most vital speech of his premiership, Mr Blair must today persuade doubtful Labour MPs that French President Chirac, and not President Bush, is to blame for the failure of UN diplomacy if he is to avert the nightmare scenario of sending British troops into combat on the strength of Conservative and Unionist votes.
Deputy Prime Minister Mr John Prescott emerged from last night's emergency cabinet meeting in Number 10 Downing Street to launch a blistering attack on "French intransigence and Iraqi non-compliance."
He reported Mr Blair's assessment to ministers that "if the international community had stayed united and firm in its determination to implement Resolution 1441, we could have disarmed Saddam without a shot being fired."
Giving the clearest signal of imminent military engagement, Mr Prescott declared Saddam Hussein now faced only two options: "Either he goes into exile or he is disarmed by force." And in a rallying cry for Labour loyalty, he said: "Nobody has tried harder than our government and our Prime Minister to resolve this diplomatically. But once France made clear they could veto a new resolution, whatever the circumstances, it became impossible to move forward."
The Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, joined the carefully orchestrated broadside against the French, while reflecting Downing Street's hope that President Bush's commitments on the Middle East peace process and a UN role in the reconstruction of a post-Saddam Iraq would be enough to persuade Ms Short to withdraw her resignation threat.
They were not enough for Mr Cook, who had tendered his resignation as Leader of the Commons and left Downing Street by the back door just as the rest of the cabinet assembled for their emergency meeting.
A former foreign secretary, Mr Cook became the first member of the Blair government to resign on a matter of principle within an hour of the British ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, declaring that Security Council consensus would not be possible in line with Resolution 1441.
And Mr Cook's formal letter of resignation carried a heavy hint of his potential as a focal point for dissent on the Labour back benches. He applauded Mr Blair and his successor as Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, for their "heroic" effort to achieve a second UN resolution, and acknowledged it was not Mr Blair's fault those attempts had failed.
However, he told the Prime Minister: "The evident importance that we attached to a second resolution makes it all the more difficult now to proceed without one, and without agreement in any other international forum."
Confirming his inability to support military action in such circumstances, he referred to their past mutual commitment to international order through multilateral decisions at the UN and other forums, adding: "In practice I believe it is against Britain's interests to create a precedent for unilateral military action."
Then Mr Cook referred to the implications of the present diplomatic fallout for Mr Blair's declared goal to put Britain in leadership at the heart of Europe.
"As our Foreign Secretary I was impressed by the energy and skill with which you ended Britain's isolation in Europe and achieved for our country equal status and influence to Germany or France. . .
"I am dismayed that once again Britain is divided from our major European neighbours. As President of the Party of European Socialists, of which the Labour Party is a member, it troubles me that I know of no sister party within the European Union that shares our position."
Former cabinet minister Mr Chris Smith, who spearheaded the last Labour rebellion over Iraq three weeks ago, praised Mr Cook for "a very honourable step". Mr Cook, he said, was "a formidable, weighty and important figure" whose resignation would be damaging to the government.
Downing Street is desperately hoping that Ms Short's overnight "reflection" on her position will not result in a second cabinet resignation and a further powerful boost to Labour dissidents who say their numbers at the end of today's debate will significantly exceed the 121 who previously opposed Mr Blair and declared the case for war "not proven".
On March 9th Ms Short accused Mr Blair of being "reckless" over Iraq and said she would resign if Britain went to war without UN authority for military action and for the reconstruction of that country.
Perhaps signalling some doubt about the final number of Labour rebels, Mr Graham Allen MP claimed that, while anti-war numbers would be up on the previous vote, today's Commons division would be rendered "dishonest" by government pressure on ministers and on potential dissidents who had allegedly been tempted by the prospect of future jobs in government.
Anti-war MP and former minister Mr Tony Lloyd also suggested the greater problem for Mr Blair would be the decision to commit troops to conflict without clear majority support in the country at large.