A BATTERED and bruised Tony Blair last night scraped to victory by only five votes in the crucial Commons vote on university tuition fees.

Then his attention turned to today's crisis: the publication of Lord Hutton's report into the death of scientist Dr David Kelly, which could cost the job of Mr Blair's Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, and may even criticise the Prime Minister himself.

Last night's victory, by 316 votes to 311, was only secured by last minute lobbying, with Chancellor Gordon Brown taking aside three rebellious MPs - including Durham North's Kevan Jones - and persuading them at the very last moment to vote with the Government.

In all, 72 Labour rebels voted against the second reading of the Higher Education Bill - another, David Taylor, voted both ways, against the legislation but also against what he called the Tories' "opportunism" - giving Mr Blair the narrowest squeak of his premiership.

It left Mr Blair and his aides free to spend much of the night preparing Mr Blair's response to Lord Hutton's report.

The report was delivered to the Prime Minister yesterday afternoon and will be formally published just after noon today.

He must be hoping it will be a successful sequel to last night's "Great Escape", which owed much to yesterday morning's announcement by the Newcastle East MP Nick Brown that he had decided to back the Government.

Nick Brown, a former chief whip and the rebels' unofficial leader, is regarded at Westminster as a close ally of Gordon Brown. There was widespread speculation that his change of heart reflected a reluctance by the Chancellor to be implicated in the dealing of what would have been a grievous blow to the Government's authority.

Kevan Jones learned how committed Gordon Brown was at first hand as he was called in for a one-on-one discussion. "I voted for the Government holding my nose," Mr Jones said afterwards.

"I think there have been concessions made today and Gordon made the point about not defeating the Labour Government."

Another potential North-East rebel, Frank Cook the Stockton South MP, also switched sides yesterday, saying that he hoped the Bill would be dissected during its next Parliamentary stage.

He said: "We can win even more concessions this way, which is better than targeting the Prime Minister. If anyone wants to target him, they can do that at the Bill's report stage."

His comments indicate that despite last night's victory, Mr Blair and Education Secretary Charles Clarke still have much work to do to get the Bill passed.

Mr Cook's change of heart meant that only four North-East MPs voted against Mr Blair - Jim Cousins (Newcastle Central), Bill Etherington (Sunderland North), Doug Henderson (Newcastle North) and Gerry Steinberg (City of Durham).

Shadow Education Secretary Tim Yeo said: "The Labour Government has only just managed to scrape this Bill through, even though they command a majority of 161. This result is a devastating body blow to Mr Blair's credibility and authority.

"The Prime Minister has presided over the biggest backbench Labour Party rebellion in the last 50 years.

"And his legislation has only survived thanks to the support of Scottish Labour MPs, whose constituents will not be affected by these measures.

"This is the Government's flagship Bill of this Parliament and the Prime Minister nailed his authority to the measure.

"This vote tonight is not a win. It is a personal humiliation for the Prime Minister. He may still be in office, but he is only just clinging to power. Who is running this discredited Government: Tony Blair or Gordon Brown?"

Former Tory leader William Hague, the Richmond MP, said: "This is not just something that the governing party said it would not do. It's not just something that the Labour Party said it would not do.

"Extraordinarily and most unusually, the manifestos of all the three political parties in this country said they would not bring in this measure.

"This is not just a Government breaking faith with the electorate. This is the body politic of this country breaching faith with the electorate."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Nobody has emerged from this shabby compromise with any credit. It took a dodgy deal between the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and backbenchers to get this Bill through.

"It's a poor reflection of the Government of the day and will be very damaging for the Prime Minister."

However, Darlington MP Alan Milburn, who is one of Mr Blair's closest allies, said: "This is the right result, because the new system will be fairer for students and better for universities.

"This reform is long overdue and it is a Labour reform, because it will open the door to a university education to many more people."

Charles Clarke said he was delighted with the result, and insisted there had been no last minute concessions to Nick Brown.

"He wasn't pushing for particular changes in the wording of the Bill," he said.

"What he was pushing for, and which I agreed, was further close consideration of the picture, particularly of entrance into the professions and the situation of people on low and middle incomes and how we could deal with that."

Students' verdict - Page 2

Comment - Page 1