Labour opponents of war seize on church message

Labour MPs seized upon the opposition of religious leaders to military action in Iraq last night, claiming their views were more in touch with the country's than the Prime Minister's.

With more church figures backing the plea for restraint from the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, anti-war MPs stepped up their campaign against Tony Blair's war plans.

Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South, said: "The Prime Minister can commit Britain to a US-led war in Iraq. It will have the support of the Cabinet, but not of the country. This is the democratic chasm that he has to address. I don't think it will be credible to take Britain into a war the country doesn't support."

Tam Dalyell, MP for Linlithgow, called for an emergency debate on Iraq before the Commons returns on 7 January. He said: "I shall oppose Blair in every possible way I can. The church aren't only more in tune with the British public, but a vast section of the US public too."

Mr Dalyell said the church's fears were shared by retired senior military officers, who were echoing the reservations of serving officers.

Dr Williams, the Pope and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, used their Christmas messages to warn against war.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, said yesterday: "What is remarkable is the Church of England bishops and in America the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic bishops all feel that at the moment the evidence is not there to make such military action morally legitimate." A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "We have said from the beginning that we wanted to go down the United Nations route. That is what we have done and we believe that is the right thing to do.

"We do not know whether Iraq is in breach of the UN resolution. We await the report of the UN weapons inspectors."

Bruce George, Labour chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee, said: "I think the Prime Minister, who is one of the most religious of all Prime Ministers of the last 50 years or so, does have a strong element of morality and high principle within his make-up.

"I would prefer to rely upon his judgement of the mixture of realpolitik threat to our country and religious principles ... to those of archbishops or bishops who may not have access to the intelligence the Prime Minister has."

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats warned the Government against "drifting into a war" without clear justification. They said triggering a war without proper proof would be "highly likely" to cause a sharp increase in terrorist activity and risk losing the international support.