Bereaved parents of soldiers killed in Iraq today shared an election platform as they challenged the Government over the decision to go to war.

Reg Keys, whose military policeman son Tom was killed by an Iraqi mob, and Rose Gentle, who lost her 19-year-old son Gordon in roadside bomb blast, met today met for a news conference.

Both are standing as independents, with Mr Keys challenging for the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency and Mrs Gentle taking on the junior defence minister Adam Ingram in East Kilbride.

They were supported by John Miller, whose son Simon, died alongside Lance Corporal Keys in a small police station in Al Majar Al Kabir in June 2003.

Mr Keys, a former ambulance man, said: ''There is a very strong attempt to dethrone the Prime Minister on his own doorstep and the groundswell out there on the street is very encouraging.

''We are trying to bring accountability back into politics. Let's have some accountability for bringing this country into a catastrophic, illegal war.'' Mrs Gentle, a cleaner from Pollok, Glasgow, said: ''It is time Tony Blair was out and people like myself and Reg were brought in to tell the truth.''

Mr Miller, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, added: "I'm privileged to be here in unity with Reg and Rose who know exactly what we are going through."

He said his son went to Iraq believing he was supporting the search for weapons of mass destruction.

''Simon and Tom died horrifically in June 2003. It was not until way after that, when they didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, that Tony Blair turned around and said this was for regime change."

Renegade former MI5 officer David Shayler, who stood aside for Mr Key's Sedgefield challenge, joined the news conference held at the Keys campaign headquarters in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

John Burton, Mr Blair's election agent, hit back at the Prime Minister's critics, saying the war succeeded in removing Saddam Hussain. ''The war was perfectly legal, it went through the UN,'' he told PA.

''We got rid of an evil dictator who was killing his people by the thousands.

''He used weapons of mass destruction on his own people ''We now have a democracy in Iraq which, with help, will eventually run the country.

''I have friends who have families in Iraq who say 'For God's sake, tell people it's far better than it was'.''

Mr Burton said during canvassing that the issue of Iraq was not a priority for Sedgefield voters.

''Everybody's talking about the NHS and keeping it free, about schools and old age pensioners who are saying people have short memories because they have never been better off.''

The Sedgefield constituency has received 15 nominations for the General Election on Thursday May 5.

They are: Berony Anne Abraham (Independent); John, alias John Bradfield Barker (Independent); Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (Labour Party); Cherri Blairout-Gilham (Pensioners Party); Julian Fraser Brennan (Independent); William John Brown (We Want Our Country Back); Robert Woodthorpe Browne (Liberal Democrats); Jonathan McQueen Cockburn (The Blair Must Go Party); Mark Neville Farrell (National Front Britain For The British); Helen John (Independent); Reginald Thomas Keys (Independent); Alan John Lockwood (Conservative Party);Fiona Chistina Luckhurst-Matthews (Veritas); Terence William Pattinson (Senior Citizens Party); Melodie Elizabeth Staniforth, commonly known as Boney Maloney (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party).

Mr Blair had a majority of 17,713 for the Labour Party at the 2001 General Election.