MPs want captives flown to UK

Tony Blair was accused by Labour MPs of acting like an "echo of George W Bush" as the Government delayed its response to demands for the return to Britain of three alleged al-Qa'ida prisoners held by the United States in Cuba.

Amid growing demands for the British prisoners to face trial in the UK, possibly for treason, Downing Street said yesterday the Government was waiting for the Americans to "decide what they want to do". The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "We always said the US had first call as the nation against whom the attack [on 11 September] was made."

British intelligence officers yesterday joined the CIA in interrogating the suspects for possible links with al-Qa'ida cells in Britain. Mr Blair's spokesman defended the interrogations. "The war against terrorism goes on," he said.

The criticism about the treatment of the prisoners spread beyond the Labour Party. Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, Nicholas Soames, a former Conservative minister, warned Mr Blair: "The US Government risks losing the moral high ground."

Meanwhile, Labour MPs stepped up their protests about the US refusal to treat those held as prisoners of war. There was fresh criticism by Diane Abbott who said Mr Blair was acting like an echo of the US President.

She said on BBC TV that the protests made by normally loyal Labour backbenchers to Mr Blair last week were the "strange sound of the worm turning".

And Ann Clwyd, who chairs the parliamentary human rights committee, said Labour MPs were calling for a meeting with the US ambassador William Farrish to voice their concerns about the treatment of the prisoners.

It was "playing with words" to suggest that the detainees were not prisoners of war and therefore not covered by the Geneva Convention, she said.

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, called for more clarity from the Government.

"We are entitled to assurances that anyone identified as British will be given proper advice about their status," he said. "These are military tribunals that some of these men may face, with the death penalty. That is long way from the sort of process they might expect in the UK."

The Prime Minister told backbenchers they should wait for the report of the Red Cross after their visit to see the prisoners before condemning the conditions in Camp X-Ray, in Guantanamo Bay. But No 10 confirmed last night that the report would not be published.

* Airline security staff are demanding personal body searches for all passengers, VIPs included. The checks should be introduced urgently said their union, the TGWU: "There must be no exception for diplomats, heads of state and military."