January 25, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 05, 1428

LONDON, Jan 24: As Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday decided to skip a rare parliamentary debate about his strategy in Iraq and the future of the Middle East, the opposition Liberal Democrats became the first party to demand a timetable of withdrawal for British troops suggesting the pullout to begin in May and end in October 2007.

The prime minister’s move did not go well with the opposition as well as some of his own backbenchers.

Passions ran high in the Commons as the debate was initiated at a critical time, with UK troops preparing to hand over Basra, the last main province under UK control, to Iraqi authorities, and in the days after President George Bush decided to send an extra 21,500 American soldiers to try and halt the endemic sectarian violence in Baghdad.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “He was in the House to lead us to war. He should now be in the House to reassure parliament and the country that the government understands the gravity of situation in Iraq and has a clear strategy for making Iraq safe and stable.”

Mr Blair’s place will be taken by Margaret Beckett, foreign secretary, and Downing Street said on Wednesday that it was his custom not to attend what are known as “adjournment debates” in which no substantive motion is put before the Commons.

“We should conduct a staged withdrawal of British forces,” Sir Menzies Campbell told the BBC on Wednesday. “There are risks, but there are risks involved in staying, and even President Bush has said there can’t be anything approaching an open-ended commitment. And at the moment, that is what we have.”

Mr Blair and Defence Secretary Des Browne have repeatedly stated that there will be a substantial withdrawal of British forces from Iraq this year but have not tied themselves to a specific deadline, saying that the UK will provide military assistance to the Iraqi government for as long as it is needed.

The prime minister dismissed Sir Menzies’ plan as “deeply irresponsible” on Wednesday. Speaking during prime minister’s questions, just before the Middle East debate was due to start, Mr Blair said the setting of a withdrawal date would “send the most disastrous signal to the people we are fighting in Iraq”.

He also shrugged off Sir Menzies’s objections to his missing the debate: “I’m actually debating the issue with you now,” said Mr Blair, adding that he intended to address the Commons when British forces complete Operation Sinbad, the mission to secure and hand over Basra.

But it was not enough to satisfy some on the Labour backbenches. Mr Blair was chided by John McDonnell, the left wing Labour MP and challenger to Gordon Brown, who said the prime minister's decision not to debate Iraq this afternoon was “a shocking negation of his responsibilities”.

Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop The War Coalition, which is organising a protest in Westminster to coincide with the debate, also expressed his incredulity. “This is an extraordinary sense of priority.