Angry dissenters 'left in the dark'

The mushrooming discontent in Tony Blair's Labour party is fuelled by doubt over the competence of the Government and anger at the way Downing Street and the party machine seeks to keep MPs in the dark.

Revolt, though, has focused on four key issues:

? Iraq - more than 130 MPs have signed a Commons motion warning the Prime Minister not to take military action "on the coat-tails" of America.

? Wreckers - the Left and the unions are furious at the way Mr Blair and some of his most senior ministerial allies denounce public sector workers for blocking reforms.

? Tony's Right-wing pals - the same cohort of unions and MPs are angry at the alliance the Prime Minister has formed with his hardline counterparts in Italy and Spain. They see it as an EU plot to curb union power.

? Hunting - the charge here is dither and delay, with continuing suspicions of a sell-out. The great majority of Labour's troops want hunting banned. They fear it will be allowed to survive, like some wily fox, beyond the next election.