BAGHDAD, Sept 17: A maverick British parliamentarian said on Monday Prime Minister Tony Blair will prevent Britain’s parliament from voting on whether it should support a US invasion of Iraq.

George Galloway, a member of Blair’s Labour Party and long-time campaigner for the lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq, said he was in Baghdad in a bid to avert a war that Washington has threatened to wage against Iraq to oust the government of President Saddam Hussein.

Blair last week bowed to pressure to call a special session of parliament to debate the growing possibility of military action against Iraq, but there were no plans to give members of parliament a vote at the September 24 debate.

However, Britain’s Independent newspaper said on Monday rebels within Blair’s Labour Party would defy his hawkish stance on Iraq by seeking a vote.

“Mr Blair is not going to allow the parliament to vote, precisely because he knows that so many members of the British parliament are against an attack upon Iraq,” Galloway told Reuters shortly after arriving in Baghdad on Monday.

He said some 161 members of parliament had already signed up against a war with Iraq.

“I am here to show solidarity with the people of Iraq in this dark hour when they are being openly threatened with violent attack and invasion,” Galloway said. “We want to encourage the Iraqi government to continue on their diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to this crisis.”

Galloway met Saddam last month and said then the Iraqi leader had given Britain a chance to avert war by offering UN arms inspectors access to his country. “I know why Iraq is very loath to accept these inspectors back because they were spies before and Iraq needs to be assured that they will not be spies again,” Galloway said.

“They have to be assured that if they allow these inspectors to come back then there will be no invasion of their country.”—Reuters