AT Bournemouth this week the Prime Minister and his colleagues lifted their spirits by concentrating on domestic issues.

But no sooner had they sang The Red Flag and packed their bags, than the thorny issue of Iraq returned to cause them trouble.

Confirmation in the interim report by the international survey group that there have been no significant discoveries of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq surprised no one.

But it confirmed the deeply-held belief of many people that the war against Iraq was unjust.

It was on the understanding that Saddam Hussein posed a significant and potentially imminent military threat that Britain entered the war.

The failure to uncover WMD in the searches which have followed the invasion in March has cast serious doubts over the validity of the case for war.

In the absence of evidence to support his case, the Prime Minister has adopted other reasons for ordering British forces into battle.

Just yesterday he hinted that the survey group would conclude that Saddam Hussein was conducting military activities in defiance of UN resolutions, and if that was known in March the UN would have sanctioned military action.

That represents a distortion of what the British public was led to believe on the eve of war. It demonstrates the flaws in the Iraq dossier, flaws which will be exposed further when Lord Hutton publishes his report.

However, Iraq need not necessarily cast a dark shadow over the remainder of Mr Blair's premiership.

No one is shedding a tear for the demise of Saddam Hussein's regime. Whatever, the doubts over the justification for the war, there are no doubts over the joy at the consequence of the war - the toppling of a brutal dictatorship.

With the passing of time, people are more likely to remember the end result than the preamble.

That is dependent, however, on the end result being the establishment of a free and democratic Iraq and the safe return of our troops.

At this stage that seems to be a tall order for Mr Blair to deliver.