As Blair touched in the British capital amid calls for a public inquiry into the crisis, his official spokesman indicated that a parliamentary committee was already examining the claims.

"The work of the select committees is a matter for them but given its remit I would not be surprised if the ISC (Intelligence and Security Committee) did not already have this matter in hand," his spokesman told the daily briefing of political correspondents.

"We do not see the need for an independent inquiry of the nature that people are demanding," the spokesman added.

Blair insisted during the summit in France that allegations he misled Britain over the immediate risk posed by Saddam Hussein's regime are false.

"I stand absolutely, 100 percent behind the evidence, based on intelligence that we presented to people," Blair said when asked about pre-war British claims Iraq could fire chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

"The idea that we doctored intelligence reports in order to invent some notion about a 45-minute capability of delivering weapons of mass destruction is completely and totally false," he said.

But while Blair was away, simmering mistrust over Iraq amongst Labour and opposition MPs developed into all-out calls for a public inquiry spearheaded by former cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short.

In the more open political environment of the United States, Congress has already ordered an investigation into possible abuse of intelligence information about alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy called for a special House of Commons select committee to be set up, with full access to the intelligence material, to examine the issue.

"This is an important test of the House of Commons as an institution. Here is probably the biggest issue for almost a generation where parliament must be seen to be asserting itself," he told BBC radio.

"I think it would be inevitable that they would have to call the prime minister because ultimately he is the man responsible for the intelligence service briefings on which he has to adjudicate," Kennedy said.

Michael Portillo, a former defence secretary for the opposition Conservatives, who supported the Iraq war, joined the calls by Labour MPs for a public inquiry over the evidence used against Iraq.

"I do think people need to have questions answered and either through processes in the House of Commons select committees or a public inquiry, I think probably this does need to be carried forward," he told the BBC.

More than 50 Labour parliamentarians have already signed a parlaimentary motion calling on the government to publish the evidence behind the dossier.

The crisis of trust around Blair's grounds for war brings his political credibility into question less than a week before the British government must make a crucial decision on whether to adopt the euro.

"How can the British trust their prime minister on the single currency if he lies to them over Iraq," a diplomatic soucre, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.

Blair is seen as more pro-euro than Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who is expected to announce next Monday that Britain is not ready to sign up for now.

WAR.WIRE