Anger as Blair snubs Afghan debate

Tony Blair was today accused of snubbing Parliament by failing to turn up to an emergency debate on the war in Afghanistan.

He stayed away from the Commons clash over his decision to send 1,700 Royal Marines to hunt down Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in their mountain strongholds.

The Tories secured the emergency debate, the first since 1993, after persuading Commons Speaker Michael Martin that the Government had avoided public scrutiny of the move.

Yet Mr Blair, who was in the Commons chamber for Prime Minister's Questions yesterday afternoon, left before the start of the Afghanistan debate. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was the sole Cabinet minister on the Government's front bench. Labour backbench MPs also stayed away, and were outnumbered by Conservatives.

While the emergency debate was on in the Chamber, Mr Blair is reported to have been discussing fox hunting with Labour MPs in another part of Westminster. Tory MP Alan Duncan said: "If he is to keep any dignity, he needs a good excuse not to have been there. He has no respect at all for the House of Commons. Clearly he is more worried about Labour MPs behind him then he is about issues ahead."

The row erupted after Mr Hoon had raised the temperature by warning MPs that Britain would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against rogue states like Iraq. He said the UK's nuclear arsenal could be unleashed in retaliation if a leader like Saddam Hussein used "weapons of mass destruction" against British troops in the field.

At the same time, he told the Commons Defence Committee that there was "real anxiety" over whether terrorist groups could acquire w eapons of mass destruction. So far, he said, there was no evidence that any had done so.

The chairman of the committee, Labour MP Bruce George, spoke up in support of Mr Blair's decision not to attend the debate, saying: "The debate was arranged at very short notice. He cannot win, you have people scrutinising his every breath and every move."

In the Commons chamber, Tory shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin slammed Mr Blair for staying away. He said: "I do regret that the Foreign Secretary is not in his place. And, indeed, the Prime Minister."

Saddam weapons warning