Greg Barker attacks PM's Iraq war rhetoric

Greg Barker, who spent three days in Canada with troopers destined for the front line in any war with Iraq, blasted the Prime Minister for his words on "paying the blood price" to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

Mr Barker, who left a specially convened waste seminar in Bexhill to attend the debate on the Iraqi dossier at Westminster on Tuesday, said: "The comment made by Tony Blair when he said we would be prepared to pay the blood price, was very offensive to my mind.

"It is not his blood that will be spilt. It is the blood of the servicemen I was with in Canada. There will be no blood spilt in the Downing Street bunker."

Mr Barker, a former Territorial, said he was still concerned by Mr Blair's apparent determination to drag the country into war and said the proper place for decision-making was the UN.

"I also think the House should have been recalled sooner. Tony Blair still has to make a strong case for going to war."

Mr Barker said the live-fire exercise he took part in last week left him with a particularly sobering thought.

"I lived under canvas with these lads from the 1st Kings Infantry Regiment and it struck me that they could be dead by Christmas if war came. These were young men of between 18 and 20 and many were young fathers.

"We must not forget war creates widows and orphans. You have to think very very carefully before putting lives on the line."

Mr Barker was in Canada as part of the Armed Forces Parliamentary scheme, where MPs spend a total of 30 days with the army in uniform as a way of gaining a better insight into the workings of the Armed Forces.