Duncan Smith: Keep Up Pressure on Saddam

The Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, today dismissed the idea of threatening Saddam Hussein with nuclear retaliation if he used chemical or biological weapons as "out of proportion".

He also said the Iraqi leader was beginning to "panic" and that pressure should be maintained by sticking to a strict timetable for the readmittance of UN inspectors and the eradication of weapons stockpiles.

But he denied the Conservative party had been trailing behind on the issue - an implicit rebuke to the former leader, John Major, who yesterday posed a series of questions he claimed the Mr Duncan Smith had failed to put to the prime minister.

"I was the one who asked the key questions about whether the government was prepared to argue the case for military intervention and for getting Saddam Hussein to get rid of his weapons of mass destruction in line with the UN resolutions," he said.

"It was me who pressed the government very hard to make sure that these arguments were put in the public domain and didn't just drift through the summer."

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Duncan Smith said he had pressed the prime minister, during their last meeting, to lead a full debate in parliament with a "substantive motion" on which MPs could vote.

"We are not going to get that this time so there is a disagreement about that. I continue to press him on that," he said.

The leader of the opposition added: "I said I was prepared to argue my case very strongly and to ask other questions at the time about where we go if there is regime change."

He denied he had suggested a "double act" question and answer session with the prime minister during the debate, adding: "I never suggested I would join forces.

"Let's get this in perspective. I have been warning about this proliferation and the danger Saddam Hussein poses since 1995. I have written articles, I've written pamphlets saying that unless we did something about his weapons of mass destruction we would face a crisis about what to do and how to deal with him when he possessed them.

"So I don't think I, of all people, should have anyone turn round and criticise me and say we have only just arrived on this. I was the one who warned that if we didn't make the case we would lose the case and the British public needed to have the facts placed in front of them."

Asked about holding out a nuclear threat against Saddam Hussein if he used chemical or biological weapons against British forces, Mr Duncan Smith said: "I don't actually think that is a proper way in which to deal with the threat, simply because I think it is out of proportion with the threat that he at the moment poses.

But he added: "If we don't and aren't prepared to eradicate the programmes that he posses now then we will be left with only that option in a few years time."

It was still possible to avert this threat by eradicating his weapons programmes through regime change or a tight UN timetable, he said.

Mr Duncan Smith told the BBC: "The only reason that Saddam Hussein is now offering to let the inspectors back in is because he knows if he doesn't he will then face military action and himself being toppled from power.

"So he's now panicking and saying let's let the weapons inspectors back in - but that's not enough."

President Saddam's nuclear weapons programme must be eradicated and "persistent and constant" UN checks maintained, he insisted.

"We must make sure that that happens and within a timescale. The threat of military action has to remain until all of that has been seen through. That's the reason why Saddam Hussein is now talking about complying."