LONDON, Feb 26: A former British cabinet minister alleged on Thursday that Britain bugged UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraq war, sparking an angry rebuttal from Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In a BBC radio interview, Clare Short, who before her resignation in May was one of the longest-serving members of Blair's government, was asked if Britain had eavesdropped on the secretary general.

"Yes, absolutely," she replied. "These things are done, and in the case of Kofi's office it's been done for some time. She added she had even seen the transcripts of Annan's conversations.

But at a Downing Street press conference, Blair hit back at her allegations which he said were "deeply irresponsible". "We and previous governments have never commented on intelligence, except to say that this country always acts in accordance with domestic and international law," Blair said.

He did not explicitly deny that British intelligence had been targeting the UN secretary-general, a key player in diplomatic efforts to avert the US and British invasion of Iraq.

But he said he had "huge respect" for Annan, "a personal friend". The furore broke just a day after government prosecutors abruptly dropped their case against Katharine Gun, a British intelligence translator who had leaked a US intelligence memo requesting Britain's help in spying on non-aligned UN Security Council members.

ANNAN WANTS BUGGING STOPPED: Reacting to Clare Short's allegations, a spokesman for the UN chief said Kofi Annan would be disappointed if the charges proved true, and if there is any bugging going on at present, he wants it stopped. -Agencies