Cabinet rallies to Blair as war revolt looms

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, led a concerted cabinet drive to shore up support for Tony Blair's stance on Iraq yesterday in the face of open rebellion among Labour activists and the wider public.

Shaken by the huge turn-out at the weekend's peace demonstrations in London and Glasgow, leading cabinet members closed ranks around the Prime Minister. But even as ministers put on their show of unity, colleagues admitted for the first time that Mr Blair's position could be threatened by his hardline support for the build-up to war.

Nato finally reached a deal last night on bolstering Turk-ey's defences against a possible attack from Saddam Hussein but Mr Blair faces a bruising emergency European Union summit in Brussels today where leaders will clash over whether to give UN weapons inspectors more time.

Mr Prescott, speaking at the close of the Labour spring conference in Glasgow, which was overshadowed by the prospect of war, said the job of the leadership was to take action because it was "right and just".

He added: "On Sierra Leone, on Kosovo, and on Afghanistan, Tony Blair acted as a leader, and deserves our trust now."

Mr Prescott, who confessed he now believed he was wrong to oppose the 1982 Falklands War, said persuasion or threat could not always avert inhumane actions by evil people. "In our Labour movement we also have a proud, and just as honourable, history of standing up to murderous dictators," he said.

"When all else fails, and when circumstances require war, we do not shrink from it, although such decisions are always controversial and never popular."

John Reid, the party chairman, Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, and Margaret Beckett, the Secretary of State for the Environment, also came to the Prime Minister's aid. Mrs Beckett said the Cabinet was aware that Labour could pay a heavy price in May's local elections as activists refused to campaign and supporters stayed at home.

"There is that danger and no one is more conscious of that than the Prime Minister and the Cabinet," she told BBC Radio 4. "Everybody recognises the enormous political dangers to the Government and this party."

Hilary Armstrong, the Chief Whip, went even further in admitting the perils faced by Mr Blair, who refused to modify his stance in his address to the conference on Saturday. "This isn't something he is doing lightly; it is something he considered seriously. He understands the dangers to himself of doing this."

The US warned that its patience with Iraq was fast running out, dismissing a French proposal ­ to give UN weapons inspections in Iraq four more weeks before considering a new UN resolution on the use of force ­ as tantamout to appeasement.

Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, said continuing to talk about more time would relieve pressure on the Iraqis.

Opposing the French call to wait until mid-March before there is any consideration of a new Security Council resolution authorising force, Ms Rice said: "Tyrants don't respond to any kind of appeasement. Tyrants don't respond to negotiation. Tyrants do respond to toughness. The world needs to pull itself together and send a very strong message to the Iraqis."

In Brussels, at the EU summit, France, Germany and Belgium, which have tried to slow the pace of the military build-up, intend to co-ordinate their positions and press for the UN inspection process to continue.

The anti-war bloc has been buoyed by the neutral tone of Friday's report to the Security Council by Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, and by the massive anti-war demonstrations across the continent.

Calling for the weapons inspectors to have more time and resources, the French President, Jacques Chirac, warned that a conflict could create "a large number of little Bin Ladens".

But President Chirac left the door open to UN backing for military action, saying: "If Iraq doesn't co-operate and the inspectors say this isn't working, it could be war."