September 16, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 18, 1424

LONDON, Sept 15: British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced allegations on Sunday that the foreign minister had urged him not to invade Iraq.

Mr Blair’s public trust ratings have shrivelled, with most Britons doubting the case he made for attacking Iraq and many blaming his government for scientist David Kelly’s suicide.

His standing took a further blow on Sunday when a new book claimed that just days before Iraq was invaded, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw asked him to opt out.

According to experienced political journalist John Kampfner, Mr Straw urged his boss to tell Washington that Britain would offer political and moral support but no troops.

“Jack Straw had cold feet with the failure to get the second resolution at the U.N.,” Kampfner told BBC Television.

Neither Mr Blair’s Downing Street office or the Foreign Office would comment on his claims.

Kampfner said he had interviewed 40 key government players. “I stand by the book and the sourcing of it,” he said.

His report follows the revelation last week that Mr Blair ignored warnings from British spy chiefs, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, that war would increase rather than lower the risk of militants like al Qaeda acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

“The government needs to restore public trust and credibility. It can’t do that by continuing to insist it got it right because everybody can see it got it wrong,” former Cabinet minister Robin Cook, who resigned over the war, said on Sunday.

Iraq will dominate an election on Thursday for a north London parliamentary seat made vacant by the death of a member of Mr Blair’s Labour Party.

Brent East should be rock solid Labour territory but polling on the ground suggests it will be a knife edge vote with the Liberal Democrats, who opposed the war, closing fast.—Reuters