THE FINAL STEPS TO WAR (Tony Blair spoke to President Bush on the phone )

Sky News ^ | Thursday March 20, 2003 | staff

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Tony Blair leaves Downing Street

	Anger Over Short's Absence

THE FINAL STEPS TO WAR

Tony Blair spoke to President Bush on the phone and met key ministers at Downing Street as the deadline for Saddam to leave Iraq approached.

Tim Marshall, Sky's foreign affairs editor, said that in all but name the meeting was a War Cabinet.

Following Prime Minister's Question time in the House of Commons, Mr Blair spoke to President Bush for 20 minutes.

Mr Blair met his Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and the Labour Party Chairman, John Reid at Number 10

He was then locked in talks with the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

During Question Time, the Prime Minister told the House of Commons Saddam Hussein would be held accountable for any crimes he has committed or may commit in the coming conflict.

Answering a question from the Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, Tony Blair revealed that Saddam's refusal to leave Iraq means he will no longer be given the immunity he once could have had.

He said: "There was a possibility, if Saddam Hussein was prepared to leave voluntarily, quit Iraq, and spare his people the conflict, that we could have ensured that that happened.

"Then the circumstances in relation to any immunity might have been different.

"But it is reasonably clear that will not happen and I think it is very important that those in senior positions of responsibility in Saddam Hussein's regime realise they will be held accountable for what they have done."

Sombre mood in Commons

Blair was addressing a packed Commons for Prime Minister's Question Time.

It was the first time he has faced MPs since he won a mandate for war on Tuesday in a heated debate, which lasted almost ten hours and led to 30 Labour MPs voting against his stance on Iraq.

The mood in the Commons was sombre.

The questions dealt more with what humanitarian aid the Iraqi people would be given and how they would be affected by the conflict - and less with the progress of war.

Aim to remove Saddam

Blair acknowledged that the main aim was now the removal of President Saddam Hussein, because it was the only way of ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

If Saddam was deposed "then the future for the Iraqi people would be brighter and better," Mr Blair insisted.

Asked about post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq, Mr Blair said the aim will be primarily to repair the damage inflicted by Saddam's regime.

He assured the House that the Government would make sure enough funds were available for reconstruction: "Every effort will be put into the humanitarian action required to care for the Iraqi people in a way they haven't had."

A post-conflict government in Iraq must be backed by a UN resolution that would help to heal the rifts which had developed in the run-up to war, he added.

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