"It does look as though the days of the Saddam Hussein regime are all but over," Straw told Channel 4 News, adding that British forces would not stay in Iraq "a day longer than is necessary."

"We will remain with the Iraqis for as long as is necessary in order to support and encourage and sustain democratic representative government.

"But we won't stay a day longer than is necessary," Straw insisted, adding that Britain had been right to wage war alongside the United States.

"War is a horrible thing but as it happens war had to take place, and it looks as though we are now seeing the end of the Saddam regime."

Straw said: "When you have a tyrant in power, his grip on power depends solely on terror. Remove that terror, there is no consent underpinning it and so the whole thing just falls into dust. And that's almost literally what we are now seeing."

SPACE.WIRE