BRITAIN: The murder of a Special Branch officer during an anti-terror raid in Manchester on Tuesday night appears to have strengthened Mr Tony Blair's resolve on Iraq.
As Greater Manchester Police launched an inquiry into the fatal stabbing of Det Constable Stephen Oake in a Crumpsall flat already deemed secured, the Prime Minister said his death should redouble British determination "to tackle terrorism in all its forms".
And Mr Blair again directly linked the issues of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the potential threat from international terrorism as he faced down his critics over Iraq at a private meeting of Labour MPs and on the floor of the House of Commons.
Some Labour backbenchers heckled Mr Blair amid renewed speculation, fuelled by reports of an interview to be published in this week's New Statesman magazine, that International Development Secretary Ms Clare Short might quit the cabinet in opposition to any military action against Iraq not specifically authorised by the UN.
With the Anglican House of Bishops also lining-up against military action without "compelling new evidence" that Saddam Hussein is stockpiling chemical or biological weapons, a defiant Mr Blair insisted: "This issue of weapons of mass destruction is a real threat to our world. I believe it is only a matter of time before it is linked with international terrorism. Does anybody believe that if we don't take a stand as an international community now, that some terrorist group is not in the future going to get hold of this material and use it?"
The threat, said Mr Blair, was real, and he warned: "If we don't deal with it the consequences are that our weakness will haunt future generations."
Ahead of talks with the chief UN weapons inspector, Dr Hans Blix, today, and a summit with President Bush at Camp David at the end of the month, Mr Blair continued his efforts to persuade Labour doubters that, if Iraq is found in breach of UN resolution 1441, the UN Security Council will sanction the military action which the US and UK seem otherwise prepared to undertake alone.
A survey in the London Times yesterday suggested deepening opposition to unilateral action in key Labour constituencies, with 63 party officials apparently ready to oppose Mr Blair in the absence of a second UN resolution against only six prepared to back him regardless.
However, Downing Street was dismissive of a Guardian claim that he faced opposition from more than half his cabinet for any commitment of British forces without UN authority, and Mr Blair won unexpected support from left-wing MP Mr David Winnick, who told him: "However much I dislike George Bush and his politics, I dislike the murderous dictator in Baghdad a million times more."
Leading critic Ms Glenda Jackson MP emerged from a private meeting of the parliamentary Labour party saying she feared Mr Blair considered the existing Resolution 1441 contained "sufficient mandate" for action, while conceding opinion seemed to be about 70/30 in the Prime Minister's favour.
Other MPs suggested opinion was more evenly divided, as appeared the case in the Commons during question time when the numbers of MPs roaring approval seemed well-matched by those remaining silent.
Support for Mr Blair from the Labour benches became more voluble in response to efforts by Conservative leader Mr Iain Duncan Smith to exploit the apparent difference between Mr Blair, who again said a second UN resolution was "preferable", and Ms Short, who had said at the weekend that it was "essential".
Mr Blair also seemed to spell out his own challenge to Ms Short by accusing Mr Duncan Smith of quoting her selectively, and by claiming her support for his insistence - spelt out at his press conference on Monday - that Britain and the US could not be "confined" by the absence of a second resolution if "the spirit of the UN was broken" by some "unreasonable" veto.
The Labour heckling came when Mr Blair also rebuked veteran MP Mr Dennis Skinner's "conspiracy theory" that the prospect of war was fuelled by the US desire to control Iraqi oil and by Mr Bush's determination to complete his father's unfinished business.
If oil had been the issue, said Mr Blair, "it would have been infinitely easier to cut a deal with Saddam Hussein".