Top Labour figures issue warning to Blair

Chris Smith, Culture Secretary, 1997-2001

My fear is of a deal in which the US agrees to more inspections in return for Britain backing action even without a second resolution.

Mo Mowlam, Northern Ireland Secretary, 1997-99

The US must have war with Iraq, because Bush's future depends on it. Blair faces an electorate still to be convinced.

Frank Dobson, Health Secretary, 1997-99

War without the UN's backing would be disastrous. We don't want to see an initiative by the US and Britain, and virtually no one else.

Peter Kilfoyle, Defence minister, 1999-2000

If we are not careful, it will be Iran tomorrow and Syria the day after. We have people driving an administration that is almost paranoid.

Glenda Jackson, Transport minister, 1997-99

It's unacceptable the way the Government has attempted to link Saddam Hussein with Bin Laden and al-Qa'ida.

Tony Banks, Sports minister, 1997-99

We have dispatched a quarter of our forces. We need to understand why our European partners do not appear to share our concern.

Doug Henderson, Defence minister, 1998-99

There is great anxiety in the forces that the Government wants them to do something lacking public support.

Joan Ruddock, Women's minister, 1997-98

Taking action over Kosovo was justified. That moral imperative does not exist in Iraq, no matter how abhorrent the regime may be.

Tony Lloyd, Foreign Office minister, 1997-99

The new American doctrine of pre-emptive strikes and unilateralism risks the destruction of the concept of a coalition against terror.

Gavin Strang, Transport minister 1997-98

The challenge to the British government is to do all it can to help the UN resolve this crisis and ensure enforcement of resolutions.

Former Labour ministers who served under Tony Blair have added their voices to the growing calls on the Prime Minister to draw back from military action against Iraq.

All are influential figures in the Labour movement, some having served as Cabinet ministers, others in the Foreign Office or the Ministry of Defence. Most are still sitting MPs.

They have spoken out against the threatened war on Saddam Hussein, warning Mr Blair not to proceed without the backing of the international community through a second UN resolution.

Mo Mowlam, the former Northern Ireland secretary, has even cautioned that with public and political opinion stacked against a war, a prolonged and difficult conflict could spell the end of Mr Blair's premiership. "If the war is not quick and successful, he could suffer considerable political damage. He may even have to resign as Prime Minister," she said.

Chris Smith, the former Culture secretary, branded military action without a second UN mandate "unacceptable". Frank Dobson, Mr Blair's first Health secretary, said war without UN backing would be "disastrous worldwide" and "politically disastrous here". Mr Blair's support for US President George Bush and his proposed invasion of Iraq has also been condemned by generals and military strategists, including General Sir Michael Rose, Major General Julian Thompson and Major General Patrick Cordingley.

It has been opposed by actors including Martin Sheen, Juliet Stevenson and Woody Harrelson, the designer Stella McCartney, the musician Damon Albarn and the comics Alan Davies and Rory Bremner – the Prime Minister's impersonator.

Church leaders including Pope John Paul II, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Jesse Jackson and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have called for peace. Politicians including Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder are hostile to war, as is South Africa's former president, Nelson Mandela.