LONDON, Jan 26: British Prime Minister Tony Blair braced on Monday for possible defeat at the hands of rebellious Labour MPs in his bid to triple university tuition fees, at the start of one of his toughest weeks in office.

Blair risks humiliation less than 24 hours before a senior judge reports on the suicide of David Kelly, the weapons expert at the centre of allegations that Downing Street "sexed up" intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Blair considers Tuesday's vote in principle in the House of Commons on university funding reform as nothing less than a litmus test of his authority, as he weathers a slump in popularity more than six years into his premiership.

But with 155 members of his own party on record as being opposed to so-called "top-up fees", the prospect of defeat on the eve of Lord Brian Hutton's report into the Kelly affair loomed large.

Even the prime minister's spokesman had to admit Monday that the outcome - expected after 1900 GMT on Tuesday, or 17 hours before Lord Hutton's report - was "too close to call".

When asked if the government was confident of winning the vote, the spokesman replied: "We hope so. But we don't know so." "The prime minister has put in, and is continuing to put in, a lot of effort to ensure that the government's legislation is carried tomorrow," he said. "We just have to wait and see what tomorrow heralds."

Blair enjoys what ought to be a comfortable 161-seat majority in the House of Commons, but if a minimum of 81 Labour MPs plus every opposition deputy vote no to top-up fees, the proposal will fail.

If that happens, a vote of confidence in Blair's government could be called for as early as Thursday, political analysts say. So far 155 Labour MPs have already signed a symbolic "early day motion" opposing top-up fees, which would raise to 3,000 pounds (4,350 euros, 5,475 dollars) the annual tuition at universities in England and Wales from 2006.

In a last-minute bid to avert defeat, Education Secretary Charles Clark moved Monday to offer a concession - an independent review of the policy in 2009 to measure its impact on students.

But the measure is widely unpopular amongst the public, with seven out of 10 people in Britain opposed, according to a poll conducted last Friday through Sunday for the Association of University Teachers.

"Even after months and months of hard sell by ministers, variable top-up fees are still the most unpopular policy this government has ever proposed," said AUT general secretary Sally Hunt.

Only four times in the last 100 years has a government lost a second-reading vote in the House of Commons, and Blair himself was nearly defeated in February last year in a vote on Britain joining the Iraq war.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, long regarded as Blair's principal rival, used a speech to global business leaders in London on Monday to urge Labour rebels to fall in line and back the government.

"I want us to be the best educated, best trained workforce, and tomorrow's much-needed reform of university finance - which I urge all MPs and all Labour MPs to support - is another vital step towards that goal," he said.

Over the weekend, Brown called top-up fees "a sensible, radical reform" - but he set pundits' tongues wagging when, in a television interview, he referred to Blair in the past tense.

"Will Tony Blair be (prime minister at the next election)? That's a matter for him," he said. "Tony Blair has been a great prime minister for Britain - and I think he has been a great leader of the Labour party as well."

The government says higher tuition fees - which won't have to be paid back until after a student graduates - are essential to keep universities well-funded and competitive on a global scale.

But critics says higher fees will leave graduates deeper in debt, and create a market in higher education that will discourage students from poorer backgrounds from attending top universities like Oxford and Cambridge.-AFP