Contenders for deputy UK premier take stand on Iraq

LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) Just as criticism of the Iraq war is seen as an essential step to win the US Democratic presidential nomination, the same goes for the contest for Britain's deputy prime minister.

Finance Minister Gordon Brown looks a virtual shoo-in to succeed Tony Blair when he stands down this year but the No. 2 post is wide open and party hopefuls are jostling for position.

Would-be deputies who backed the 2003 invasion now sound humble and contrite as they accept the mistakes made in a war that has drastically eroded the government's popularity.

Brown has called for a new style of politics after Blair, pledging ''frankness'' in dealing with the United States and a greater emphasis on winning hearts and minds in the fight against terrorism.

Deputy hopefuls too feel close association with Blair's alliance with US President George W Bush will damage their chances among the ruling Labour Party faithful.

Northern Ireland Secretary and contender for deputy under Brown hit out yesterday against Bush's administration as ''the most right-wing ... if not ever, then in living memory.'' ''The neo-con mission has failed,'' he said in an interview published the same day Blair is meeting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in London.

''It's not only failed to provide a coherent international policy, it's failed wherever it's been tried, and it's failed with the American electorate, who kicked it into touch last November,'' he told the New Statesman magazine.

Labour lawmakers say deputy candidates are responding to a groundswell of opposition to the war among Labour's members who will vote, along with unions and Labour members of parliament, to choose the deputy leader.

TACTICS IRK WAR CRITICS ''Probably the majority of people who voted for the war in the Labour Party now believe it was a mistake ... so it's a reflection of common thinking,'' said Labour parliamentarian lawmaker Joan Ruddock.

''Most people are expecting that Gordon Brown himself will want to find a new direction which, although in no sense is anti-American, would certainly be a little more cautious in terms of following George Bush,'' she told Reuters.

Blair, who stands by the Iraq invasion, is expected to go by August but announce his intentions several months earlier, triggering an eight-week contest for premier and deputy.

Among the favourites for deputy is International Development Secretary Hilary Benn, son of left-wing veteran Labour lawmaker Tony Benn and himself seen as left of centre.

He too has sounded a note of contrition over mistakes made in the wake of the Iraq war, despite having backed it.

Ruddock, however, insists a male-female team is essential and supports constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman.

Labour Party chairman Hazel Blears is another woman candidate.

Labour insiders say parliamentarian Jon Cruddas, formerly an outsider, could surprise. Cruddas voted for the war but says he regrets doing so and he has little connection to Blair.

Education Secretary Alan Johnson has also said he will run.

Staunch anti-war Labour lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn said candidates' about-turns on the war were unsurprising but false.

''Peter (Hain) voted for the war, has voted for it ever since and until very recently was defending the British occupation of Iraq, all of which is a direct consequence of Bush's foreign policy ... If he is now telling us that foreign policy is wrong, he should be voting for troop withdrawal from Iraq,'' he said.

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