Tony Blair’s “moral” case for war in Iraq appeared to be in tatters last night after Downing Street admitted that Saddam Hussein would be allowed to stay in power if he disarmed fully. But his official spokesman stressed that government policy had not changed to the moral argument for “regime change” and its focus remained Iraq’s failure to comply with UN demands over weapons of mass destruction.The confusion came as a new opinion poll showed the first clear majority of Britons opposing a war against Baghdad. The Guardian/ICM poll shows 52 per cent do not want military action, while Mr Blair’s personal approval rating plunged to minus 20 points.The Prime Minister’s official spokesman stressed that the Government did not expect President Saddam to comply with UN demands. “It’s our firmly held view that he depends on his weapons for power and we don’t believe he is serious about disarming,” he said. But, he added: “If Saddam Hussein co-operates, if he’s serious about disarmament, then he can stay in power.”Clearly rattled by the size of the demonstrations across Britain, Downing Street again insisted that Saturday’s peace marchers did not enjoy a “moral monopoly” and said Mr Blair would continue to highlight the nature of President Saddam’s regime.”The Prime Minister will continue to underline the barbaric nature of the regime, he will continue to stress the nature of the humanitarian crisis within Iraq because it is serious and it is acute and responsibility for it lies directly at the door of Saddam Hussein.”We are not at the point of military conflict, no decision has been taken.

He shrugged off suggestions that Iraq’s internal repression relied not on chemical and biological weapons but on conventional weapons and torture.The spokesman said the Government had listened to protests even though it disagreed with the arguments. “People shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that of course we do listen and we have been listening, and we have made strenuous efforts to go back down the UN route We continue to go down the UN route That’s where this issue should be resolved. There has been no rush to conflict from our side or any other side.”Mark Seddon, a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, said that the confusion at the heart of such an important policy area as Iraq was “astonishing”. He said: “Downing Street itself appears to have shot Tony Blair’s fox.

There was the Prime Minister on Saturday telling us all that he wanted to get rid of Saddam because of his evil regime and within two days his own spokesman says the dictator can stay in place if he disarms.”We’ve already had the grotesque situation of Mr Blair saying that sanctions are killing innocent Iraqis when that’s exactly what the left have been arguing for years The problem is, the sanctions are imposed by him Now he finally wakes up to the murderous regime. Of course we want to see Saddam go, but bombing is not the answer.”The Church of England warned yesterday that military action against Iraq was likely to aggravate already “huge” humanitarian problems in the country. Suffering in Iraq could be worse than it was in Afghanistan during the conflict in 2001, the Church of England community and public affairs unit said.. The man who published photographs of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas taken secretly at their New York wedding apologised to the Hollywood couple yesterday for any distress they had suffered. It was also stated that he had given her a £1m yacht as a wedding present.Mr Sanchez said the text was probably written at the Madrid offices of Hola!, the Spanish counterpart of Hello!and added that he hadn’t paid any attention to the text.

He was unaware that the statements were untrue, he said.Mr Tugendhat asked: “Do you not think that the implication of the statements is unpleasant?” Mr Sanchez replied: “Well, it doesn’t seem to me to be unpleasant.” When told that Ms Zeta-Jones was very distressed by the publication, he replied: “I am sorry about that.”The case continues.. A Venezuelan man arrested at Gatwick Airport for allegedly carrying a hand grenade in his luggage was remanded in custody when he appeared in court yesterday. He was charged with possession of an explosive, possession of an article for terrorist purposes, and carrying a dangerous item on a flight.Mr Rahaham-Alan, bearded with long hair and dressed in a baggy blue jumper, sat in the dock flanked by a police officer and a Spanish interpreter for the five-minute hearing. He stood and spoke in a barely audible voice as he gave his full name and date of birth to the court and gave an address in Caracas, Venez-uela. His lawyer, Peter Corrigan, said he could understand the proceedings in English but the interpreter would clarify anything if necessary.There was no application for bail and the charges were transferred to the Old Bailey where he will next appear on 24 February.In a separate hearing, Karim Kadouri, 33, an Algerian was yesterday jailed for four months for having a fake passport after being arrested in November under the Terrorism Act..