Left-wingers rally behind Prescott to demand Blair quits over Iraq

Demands for Tony Blair to quit over his support for US President George W Bush in the Middle East are to be taken to Labour's annual conference next month in a direct challenge to his leadership by left-wing Labour campaigners.

An emergency resolution will be sent to all constituency Labour parties calling for Mr Blair to quit because of his "disgraceful" policy in Iraq, and for a leadership election within two months of the conference.

Mr Blair will seek to shrug off the challenge, but it has been tabled by leaders of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, who successfully backed four candidates elected to the National Executive of the party, including the veteran anti-war campaigner Walter Wolfgang.

The calls for Mr Blair to go will be boosted by the burst of support for John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, since the The Independent disclosed that he said President Bush's performance on the Middle East road map was "crap".

Mr Prescott is worried the remark may damage him, but there has been support for his words about Mr Bush to a private meeting of MPs. "I think he could get a standing ovation now," said one of his close friends. "He's said what a lot of us have been thinking."

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