Blair calls for solidarity as Hoon comes under pressure

Tony Blair appealed yesterday to the international community and his domestic critics to support his tough stance against Saddam Hussein, warning that the Iraqi leader would exploit any lack of resolve.

The Prime Minister was challenged in the Commons to distance himself from the increasingly impatient noises from Washington before next Monday's report to the United Nations Security Council by Hans Blix, the UN chief weapons inspector.

Mr Blair replied: "These inspectors, I think we can all accept this, would not be back in Iraq doing their work unless a tough and insistent position had been taken by the US, the UK and others."

Despite the refusal of France and Germany to back military action, Downing Street said Mr Blair was confident that the US and Britain would win a second UN resolution to authorise a war. There is speculation in Whitehall that Britain will urge the US to delay any decision on a war for two weeks if the inspectors produce an inconclusive report. Mr Blair said: "It is important the weapons inspectors are able to do their job and have the time to do their job."

British sources said there was further evidence of internal opposition to Saddam's regime as the military build-up and diplomatic pressure on Iraq increased.

They said graffiti, slogans and underground activity had increased sharply in recent weeks. Slogans such as "Down with Saddam" and "How long will the Iraqi people sleep?" were appearing on statues and photographs of Saddam and on the walls of public buildings. Opposition groups, including the Iraqi Communist Party and National Liberation Movement, had also stepped up activity.

The reports come from recent Iraqi asylum-seekers, many of them members of Iraq's Kurdish minority, but apply to central Iraq, which is controlled by Saddam Hussein's Baath Party regime. Other reports spoke of pay rises and ration increases recently granted to key officials.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, called for the international community to provide resources to tackle the root causes of terrorism. Proposing a "global New Deal", he said: "Like our predecessors, we understand that what has happened in Afghanistan and elsewhere raises global issues on terror to which we must respond with resolution but also about the integration of the poorest countries into our global economy... a world disfigured by poverty can neither be just nor stable."

Opposition to war inside the Labour Party surfaced when Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, faced tough questions at the weekly meeting of Labour MPs and later during a Commons debate on defence.

Colin Burgon, Labour MP for Elmet, said his constituents viewed the prospect of war with "profound unease" and distrusted President George Bushand some of his advisers.

Tony Banks, the former sports minister, said to Mr Hoon: "We have dispatched a quarter of our forces for possible action in Iraq. Can you explain why it is that our European partners don't appear to share that concern? They don't appear to have deployed any of their troops. Why is their perspective so radically different to ours?"

Doug Henderson, a former armed forces minister, said there was "considerable anxiety among the chiefs in the forces and among the rank and file that the Government might be asking them to do something which lacks the support of the public". Alice Mahon, Labour MP for Halifax, said: "It's a shame the Prime Minister appears to be set on following President Bush. I think there's a great deal of dishonesty and cowardice on the part of the Government in today's debate."

MPs opposed to war with Iraq later forced a symbolic vote against the Government's policy. Forty-one Labour rebels were among 53 MPs who voted against the Government on a technical vote at the end of the debate.