A senior British Army officer described today how he warned Tony Blair two days before the invasion of Iraq that there were insufficient preparations for dealing with the aftermath of the conflict.

Another clutch of embarrassing British parliamentary expenses claims were revealed today as the public mood over the revelations turned increasingly angry.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will tomorrow head for a meeting of his constituency Labour Party amid speculation that he is preparing to stand down as a MP, his agent John Burton said tonight.

Former British Cabinet minister Clare Short has resigned as a Labour MP to become an independent for the rest of this Parliament, it was confirmed today.

Tony Blair will quit as Labour leader on May 31 next year and resign as British Prime Minister on July 26 2007 after an eight-week battle for the succession, it was claimed today.

Stars of Ken Loach’s new film The Wind That Shakes The Barley attended its UK premiere in London tonight.

There was little doubt in the IRA heartland of South Armagh that the terror group’s war with Britain had finally ended.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would press George Bush to make peace in the Middle East a key priority of the next four years after congratulating the US president on his election victory.

Two unionist politicians have criticised former British cabinet minister Clare Short for saying that the IRA never deliberately targeted civilians.

IF Barry George is innocent, then who killed Jill Dando?

TONY Blair was last night under mounting pressure to reveal if Clare Short's United Nations bugging claims were true after fresh revelations of spying.

The mobile phone of United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was tapped whenever he was in Iraq and the information shared between the United States, Britain and their allies, Australian radio reported today.

THE British Government is to review the Official Secrets Act after Prime Minister Tony Blair branded ex-Cabinet minister Clare Short “irresponsible” for claiming British secret agents bugged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

FORMER cabinet secretary Clare Short said last night British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be a liar if he denied her claims that British agents had bugged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's office.

CLARE SHORT has never shied away from voicing her blunt opinions — even at the cost of her own career.

British bugging of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s office is illegal if proved to be true, the world body said today.

British agents spied on United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraqi war, former British International Development Secretary Clare Short has claimed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair breathed a huge sigh of relief tonight after he scraped home by just five votes in the row over university top-up fees.

Tony Blair today faced a fresh wave of attacks accusing him of deceiving Britain over Saddam Hussein’s weapons arsenal.

FORMER British Labour minister Clare Short yesterday stepped up her calls on Tony Blair to quit saying he had behaved worse than shamed John Profumo.

Tony Blair is the least trustworthy politician in Britain, a new survey found today.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair was under continued pressure over the death of David Kelly yesterday as his former ministers lined up to criticise his role in the affair.

Tony Blair was under continued pressure over the death of David Kelly today as his former ministers lined up to criticise his role in the affair.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today due to explain his role in events leading up to the apparent suicide of his government's weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

RWANDAN president Paul Kagame is “unapologetic” about the role his troops have played in the war in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and has said he would send them back in if his country’s security were at stake.

THE continuing row between Downing Street and the BBC over intelligence on Iraq is a “smokescreen” covering up the real reasons for going to war, former Cabinet minister Clare Short said yesterday.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair has suffered huge political damage as a result of the death of an arms expert at the centre of a row over whether the government “sexed up” evidence on Iraq, a poll said yesterday.

FORMER British cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short said yesterday they were both told by MI6 in the run-up to the war with Iraq that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction did not pose any immediate threat.

EXTRAORDINARY allegations that the British Government may have deliberately altered an intelligence dossier on weapons on mass destruction to justify war with Iraq led to furious exchanges in the House of Commons yesterday.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday insisted that he stood “absolutely 100%” behind intelligence claims made by the government about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war, as he sought to face down a looming revolt by Labour MPs.

A FORMER member of British prime minister Tony Blair’s Cabinet reportedly accused him yesterday of spinning intelligence to justify the war on Iraq and said he had “duped” his colleagues about alleged weapons of mass destruction.

BRITISH Labour MP Clare Short last night delivered a devastating indictment of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his style of government as she finally quit the Cabinet as International Development Secretary.

Britain's International Development Secretary, Clare Short, resigned from the British cabinet today, ending weeks of speculation over her future.

THE US-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein may have killed about 2,000 Iraqi civilians. In Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the ensuing Gulf War, as many as 100,000 noncombatants perished.

SCENES of anarchy on the streets of Baghdad have sounded alarm bells for the US and British governments and aid agencies, and defence analysts warn US troops could face a dangerous law-and-order vacuum in Iraq.

EVERY effort is being made to find two British servicemen who have been missing since their vehicle came under attack from the Iraqis, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said yesterday.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair has taken the biggest political gamble of his premiership in backing President George Bush on war with Iraq.

Troops were poised to invade Iraq today as US President George W Bush’s deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq by 1am on Thursday drew near.

The British Prime Minister today appealed for MPs to back him in standing firm against Iraq as military action loomed.

Britain's Tony Blair was today rocked by two more ministerial resignations as he prepared for today’s crunch Commons debate on Iraq.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered his first political casualty yesterday with the resignation of Robin Cook.

War on Iraq without a second UN resolution looks ever more likely today as time slipped away to secure the peaceful disarmament of Saddam Hussein.

High-stakes diplomacy was continuing today at the United Nations in New York, as Britain struggled to secure support for a draft resolution to authorise war on Iraq.

By Ronan Mullen