Tony Blair

The prime minister has defended the continuing military operation to gain control of Fallujah.

The comments came as Tony Blair faced MPs for the final time before flying to Washington for talks with President Bush.

Foreign affairs dominated proceedings with coalition forces in the middle of an assault on the Iraqi insurgent stronghold of Fallujah and the Middle East peace process in turmoil due to the critical condition of Yasser Arafat.

The assault on Fallujah has angered scores of MPs, particularly as British troops have been asked to fill in for their US counterparts taking part in the the conflict.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy asked whether UK forces will be deployed to other parts of Iraq as part of the continuing battle against insurgents.

"Given that we know that leading Iraqi insurgents have in many cases already left Fallujah and that violence is flaring across the country, would the prime minister be prepared to authorise again the redeployment of British troops elsewhere in Iraq in support of other American lead military operations?" he asked.

Blair replied that it is "not sensible for me to speculate".

However he pointed out that many of the insurgents are "outside terrorists" and "Jihadists" aiming to disrupt democratic elections in January.

"We would cease operations in Fallujah now if they were to lay down their weapons and agree to elections," he said.

"This is a special operation for particular reasons of immense importance to getting those elections secure in Iraq and there are no plans to redeploy British troops in replacement of those."