Party 'muzzled over Iraq vote'

Anger over Iraq boiled over at the Labour conference today as anti-war delegates accused the party leadership of muzzling them.

Opponents of the conflict prepared to go on the attack in a two-hour debate on the conflict, with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw prepared for a rough ride.

But after a behind-the-scenes row, an anti-war resolution from the RMT transport union was thrown out on a technicality. Delegates upheld the ruling by a two-to-one margin on a show of hands. The decision meant that Tony Blair had avoided the risk of an embarrassing defeat.

The only conference vote will be on a bland policy report praising efforts to rebuild Iraq after the war.

The RMT complained that the party was being denied a chance to express its view "on the one issue that the entire world is talking about, a matter of war and peace".

The union's hardline leader Bob Crow said: "The best way to resolve this matter is to have the argument out on the conference floor. "

Embattled Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, expected to lose his job after Lord Hutton reports on the death of weapons expert David Kelly, also faced an uncertain welcome in the foreign affairs debate.

He prepared for his speech with a trip to woo Asian delegates at a party last night hosted by disgraced former Europe minister Keith Vaz.

Allies of Mr Blair pointed out that the big trade unions had the chance to select four "contemporary resolutions" for discussion at the start of the conference but picked four on domestic issues, overriding a vote among constituency delegates which showed Iraq was the No 1 issue they wanted to debate and vote on.

The conference arrangements committee twice ruled that the RMT's anti-war motion, condemning the decision to go to war in the light of the West's failure to find illegal weapons in Iraq, did not meet the criteria for acceptance as an emergency resolution. Earlier, critics of Mr Blair went on the attack at a Tribune rally for Left-wing delegates on the Bournemouth fringe.

Former International Development Secretary Clare Short warned that if Mr Blair did not change his ways, "we have got to change Blair". The normally-loyal Michael Foot, the former Labour leader, also spoke of "the lies of our leaders" over Iraq.

Baroness Amos, Ms Short's successor, was expected to receive a warm reception from delegates in her first conference appearance after her promotion.