This was all over the TV news yesterday evening. Labour MPs are very negative about the plan to use 650 British troops in the US zone in Iraq.
The MPs (plenty of them from Blairs own party) questioned what need there was for 650 Brits when the US has 145,000 troops there already. They indicated they believed that this entire operation was just to make Bush look good before the election.
The Guardian has something.
Sir Gerald Kaufman would probably describe himself as loyal to a fault, so he will have shaken the front bench yesterday when he suggested British forces might be "risking their lives and being exploited politically in a closely fought US election."
As does The Times
Yesterday the Government faced angry opposition to the move with some MPs suggesting that it was aimed at helping President Bush with his re-election on November 2. Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP, said that a deployment before the election would be "handing out an oxygen cylinder to President Bush".
But Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said that Britain would be failing "in its duty as an ally" if it failed to help. "Were we to refuse the request it would go to the heart of our relationship not only with the US but with other members of the Alliance," he said.
The 'failing in its duty as an ally' quote did not go down well.