LONDON, May 17: Under growing political pressure to find an Iraq exit strategy, the British government said on Monday it planned to step up training of Iraqi forces to allow its own military to leave as soon as feasible.

"The strategy is to allow the Iraqis to take control as soon as possible and to allow us to leave as soon as possible," Mr Blair's spokeswoman told reporters. The goal was a peaceful and stable Iraq, she said. "One way is by improving the training of people on the ground."

Until now, the government line has been that a British presence would be maintained for "as long as it takes". Mr Blair's opponents accused him of playing to the domestic audience and talking up a change of policy when there was none.

"I think most of us are still waiting to be told what his exit strategy is," Conservative leader Michael Howard said. Blair's spokeswoman conceded the government was reaffirming its strategy, not changing it and a key Blair ally said there would be no premature exit before Iraq was stable.

"It's absolutely clear that we will stay until Iraq is properly able to look after its own affairs," Cabinet minister Lord Falconer said. Blair's popularity has plunged since he waged war in Iraq, to the point where his followers are speculating about how long he has left as premier and urging him to distance himself from US President George W. Bush.

He has refused, despite the domestic political damage. A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times newspaper found 46 percent of those surveyed said Blair should quit before the next election, expected in about a year's time.

There is little sign of Iraq's security stabilising - the main precondition for withdrawing troops. The head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council was killed on Monday by a suicide car bomb in Baghdad.

David Richmond, Britain's envoy in Iraq, said Iraqi forces would be not be capable of keeping the peace for a year or more. "The first task is to ensure that Iraq has security forces on which it can rely," he told BBC Radio. "I don't think they will have fully trained Iraqi security forces by January. I think it will take a few months longer than that." -Reuters