Left-wingers rebel as MPs tell Blair not to bypass UN

Tony Blair suffered a rebellion in the Commons from left-wing backbenchers last night as he was warned by MPs of all parties not to bypass the United Nations by embarking on an Anglo-American war against Iraq.

Sixty-four MPs, including 53 Labour backbenchers voted against the Government after rebels forced a division on a technical motion to adjourn the Commons after a day-long emergency debate.

Nine Scottish and Welsh nationalist MPs joined two Liberal Democrats to vote against the Government after members were denied the chance to vote on a substantive motion warning against strikes on Iraq.

The scale of the revolt was greater than the 45 Labour MPs who rebelled over faith schools in February and the 47 who staged a revolt over lone parent benefits in 1997, but less than the 67 who voted against the Government over cuts in disabled benefits.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, backed Mr Blair during the day-long debate, telling MPs: "The only question remaining is whether he [President Saddam] has the motive to strike against Britain. I believe it is fair to assume he would. He has had 10 years of second chances. Now surely is the time to act. This matter is in Saddam Hussein's hands now."

But senior Conservative MPs joined Labour and Liberal Democrats in expressing caution. Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said he was worried about the concept of "regime change", warning that it would "create a dangerous precedent in international affairs".

He added: "We have to be clear about the possible consequences of such regime-change. What will the reaction be in the rest of the Arab world? And if Saddam's regime falls what kind of Government is envisaged as a replacement?"

Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, condemned the Government's dossier of evidence as "closer to propaganda than it was to scrutiny". He warned that American-led action would have "little to do with human rights and everything to do with the redistribution of oil". He added: "There has been no threat from Iraq to the US, to the UK or to Europe over the past 10 years during which we have bombed Iraq nearly every day ... We have to ask ourselves what has changed over the past year."

Another anti-war MP, Alice Mahon, said the dossier was "light on fact and high on conjecture". She said: "If it was an A-level answer the examiners would downgrade it without any hesitation."

Tam Dalyell, the father of the house, tried to introduce a motion to allow MPs to vote on their support for military action. He told the Speaker, Michael Martin, that MPs could only "discharge their responsibilities" if they debated a motion refusing to back war unless it was supported by the UN and a motion in the House.

Ann Clwyd, the Labour MP for the Cynon Valley and a campaigner for the Kurdish people, called on Mr Blair to pursue President Saddam through the international criminal court.

George Galloway, Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin, said: "The Prime Minister tells us, as George Bush himself might put it, that we've been misunderestimating the President. The problem with that is that British people have seen the President, heard the President and they think that they are estimating him just about right as not a man that we would want to be at the wheel of the car as we drive along the edge of a cliff with ourselves sitting in the back seat."

George Foulkes, a former Labour international development minister, attacked the "usual suspects" who spoke out against military action. He said: "I find it astonishing that a few, and I mean a few, of my honourable friends seem more willing to accept the word of a dictator who has twice invaded his neighbours and gassed to death thousands of his own people than that of the Prime Minister."

Douglas Hogg, a former Conservative cabinet minister who served as a Foreign Office minister at the time of the Gulf War, told MPs that the threat was not sufficiently grave to justify military action. "To lead a country into war without overwhelming public opinion in support seems to me not only worrying but positively dangerous," he said.

Edward Leigh, the Conservative chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, warned that provoking President Saddam would be disastrous. "I do not believe the case for attacking Iraq unilaterally without the UN has been made."

Nicholas Soames, a former Tory defence minister, backed the Government's stance but said he was "affronted by the patronising impertinence" of the Government for not offering a Commons debate sooner.

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, reminded MPs the UN charter "expressly prohibited" regime change through military force.

Donald Anderson, Labour chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, counselled "total scepticism" of Iraqi assurances. But he said: "Any steps taken must clearly be through the UN.We need a new resolution with a stringent timetable. The credibility of the UN is clearly at stake."

MPs opposing the Government

LABOUR: Diane Abbott (Hackney North & Stoke Newington), John Austin (Erith & Thamesmead), Tony Banks (West Ham), Harry Barnes (Derbyshire North East), Andrew Bennett (Denton & Reddish), Roger Berry (Kingswood), Harold Best (Leeds North West), Karen Buck (Regent's Park & Kensington North), Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Harry Cohen (Leyton & Wanstead), Iain Coleman (Hammersmith & Fulham), Michael Connarty (Falkirk East), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Tom Cox (Tooting), Ann Cryer (Keighley), John Cryer (Hornchurch), Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow), David Drew (Stroud), Paul Flynn (Newport West), George Galloway (Glasgow Kelvin), Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow), Ian Gibson (Norwich North), David Hamilton (Midlothian), Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East), Glenda Jackson (Hampstead & Highgate), Jon Owen Jones (Cardiff Central), Dr Lynne Jones (Birmingham Selly Oak), Terry Lewis (Worsley), Iain Luke (Dundee East), John Lyons (Strathkelvin & Bearsden), Christine McCafferty (Calder Valley), John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington), Tony McWalter (Hemel Hempstead), Alice Mahon (Halifax), Jim Marshall (Leicester South), Robert Marshall-Andrews (Medway), Julie Morgan (Cardiff North), Linda Perham (Ilford North), Gordon Prentice (Pendle), Mohammed Sarwar (Glasgow Govan), Malcolm Savidge (Aberdeen North), Brian Sedgemore (Hackney South & Shoreditch), Debra Shipley (Stourbridge), Alan Simpson (Nottingham South), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Llew Smith (Blaenau Gwent), David Taylor (Leicestershire North West), Jon Trickett (Hemsworth), Paul Truswell (Pudsey), Desmond Turner (Brighton Kemptown), Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North), Robert Wareing (Liverpool West Derby), Betty Williams (Conwy).

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: Richard Allan (Sheffield Hallam), Sue Doughty (Guildford).

SNP: Annabelle Ewing (Perth), Angus Robertson (Moray), Alex Salmond (Banff & Buchan), Michael Weir (Angus), Pete Wishart (Tayside North).

PLAID CYMRU: Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy), Adam Price (Carmarthern East and Dinefwr), Simon Thomas (Ceredigion), Hywel Williams (Caernarfon).