Blair moves to heal damage

Tony Blair today moved to mend the deep damage inflicted by his outgoing Cabinet rebel, Clare Short.

A parade of ministers and loyal Blairite MPs lined up to reject the potentially lethal charges levelled by Ms Short against the Prime Minister after her walkout as International Development Secretary.

Ms Short herself came under attack today, both from loyal Labour MPs and, significantly, from some of the dissidents.

Peter Kilfoyle, who resigned as a defence minister, said she had "lost a great deal of credibility" by her failure to resign before the war.

He dismissed the suggestion that she would become the standard bearer for the Left, pointing out that more substantial ex-Cabinet figures, like Robin Cook and Chris Smith, had been named in that role but not materialised.

Chris Bryant, an MP loyal to the leadership, was savage, declaring: "Clare has undermined herself by playing the hokeycokey for the last few weeks and parading her conscience everywhere."

But the fear was that her accusations that Mr Blair was ruling by "diktat", suppressing dissent and obsessed with his place in history, would act as a red rag to the rebellious MPs in Labour's ranks.

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, today weighed in to deny the claim that Mr Blair was acting outside the law in sharing the rule of post-war Iraq without UN authority. Ms Short had cited that as one of the main misdeeds which had forced her to quit. But Lord Goldsmith, who plays a key role in advising Mr Blair, said that the Government had acted throughout in accordance with international law.

Ms Short's attack, however, delivered in media interviews and a personal statement in the Commons, targeted the Prime Minister's entire style and many of his policies.

In two newspaper interviews this morning she took the final step, saying Mr Blair should step down as Prime Minister and party leader before the next election to allow an "elegant" handover.

MPs were well aware who Ms Short had in mind to inherit - her long-time sponsor and protector, Gordon Brown. Ms Short conceded that she had spoken to the Chancellor before resigning, saying: "He tried to persuade me not to do it, but here we are."

Mr Blair's allies were hoping that the venom and all-embracing scale of Ms Short's assault might rebound. There was no doubt that she had lost credibility among many MPs when she went to the brink of resignation on the eve of the war with Iraq, only to change her mind.

A substantial number of people at Westminster were convinced she went yesterday in the full knowledge that she was soon going to be sacked.

Downing Street today is attempting to draw a picture of business as usual. But Ms Short rang genuine alarm bells with her warning yesterday that the Labour Party was "entering rockier times". It was seen as a prediction of more mutinies ahead, over the controversial plans for foundation hospitals and many other policies.