Hoon: Mid-week announcement

Geoff Hoon has indicated that a final decision on deploying British troops to central Iraq will be taken in the next few days.

In a Commons statement, the defence secretary confirmed that a request had been received from US commanders.

Playing down the potential move, he told MPs that "such requests and discussions between allies are routine".

Hoon confirmed that the potential move would take UK forces beyond their main operational area in the south of the country.

"The US request is for a limited number of UK ground forces to be made available to relieve US forces, to allow them in turn to participate in further operations elsewhere in Iraq to maintain the continuing pressure on the terrorists," he said.

"The request does not ask for UK troops to be deployed to Baghdad City, nor to Falluja.

"We are obviously considering this request, there are a number of issues that require assessment including timing, the length of the potential operation, command and control operations, logistics and which forces would be the most appropriate to conduct the operation."

Hoon added that none of these details had yet been decided, but a British reconnaissance team will deploy to the area on Tuesday.

It is expected that their reports will enable army chiefs to make a recommendation on the deployment by the middle of this week.

Political impact

Earlier, Downing Street dismissed claims that proposals to put British troops into an operational role near Baghdad were a politically motivated gesture to shore-up support for President Bush in the US election.

Amid reports that a 650-strong unit could be deployed under US military control, the prime minister's spokesman also added that no final decision had been made.

"This is a proposal which has come from the operational level, not the political level," said the Number 10 spokesman.

He went on to say that "no firm proposals" about the exact nature of the deployment had been received from the US military high command.

"The idea of working with others is not new," he said. "Any proposals will be based on an assessment on the ground."

Downing Street said that any military redeployment will take place to "help the process of Iraqi-isation" rather than boost President Bush's re-election campaign.

"If this is about any election, it is about preparing for Iraqi elections not the US election," said the spokesman.