Papers round on Blair over Iraq weapons

The front pages provide no respite for Tony Blair as he tries to fend off criticism arising from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The Sunday Telegraph gives top billing to its interview with the former International Development Secretary, Clare Short, in which she accuses the prime minister of deceiving the British people about the arms issue.

The paper believes her comments will infuriate Downing Street as it braces itself for a political battle over its presentation of the case for war.

The Independent on Sunday reports that the government's pre-war assertion that Iraq's banned weapons could be activated within 45 minutes was based on information from a single Iraqi defector of dubious reliability.

The Sunday Express quotes French intelligence sources who accuse Britain and the United States of ignoring reports that Iraq did not have chemical or biological weapons.

The Sunday Times chips in by claiming to have fresh evidence that Downing Street "doctored" an intelligence dossier on the security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's regime.

Archer 'ban'

The Observer reveals what it calls the "shocking" extent of the unexploded cluster bombs and land-mines dropped by coalition warplanes in Iraq.

The paper reproduces a map of the country - based on military intelligence - which appears to show vast areas to be at risk from live munitions.

Among other front-page stories, the Sunday Mirror says the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has intervened to try to prevent Lord Archer from being released early from prison.

Archer is eligible for parole in four weeks' time, but the paper says the Home Office wants to keep him locked up in order that he should not be seen to be getting off lightly for his crimes.

The Sunday Times reports that ministers are trying to kill off European Union plans to bring in a comprehensive regime for labelling genetically modified food.

The paper says documents - including a memo from the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw - show the government is desperate not to antagonise the United States, the world's largest producer of GM crops.

Prince's manifesto

The Sunday Times reports that after more than half a century as heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales is at last preparing to issue his own job description.

Or as the Mail on Sunday more grandly puts it, a "Manifesto for King".

According to the Sunday Times, Prince Charles wants to set out his duties, responsibilities and areas of influence which have never been officially defined.

Royal sources are quoted as saying that the document will claim the right to lobby cabinet ministers on matters of importance, while conceding that the prince must drop any issues that become political.

Beckham speculation

While the broadsheets debate the rights and wrongs of going to war with Iraq, a different question occupies most of the tabloids.

Where will David Beckham be playing his football next season? The Daily Star Sunday's headline, "Becks Off To Spain", appears to be a commonly held view.

Both the News of the World and the Sunday Express are convinced that Manchester United have agreed to sell the England captain to Barcelona for £30m.

Twice that amount would buy you what the Mail on Sunday describes as one of the most unusual properties ever to go on sale.

It is the former training camp of the SAS which is being sold off and probably redeveloped as a housing estate.

We are told the 50-acre site in the centre of Hereford once boasted an underground swimming pool, and even a railway carriage where the SAS fine-tuned their hostage rescue tactics.

The Mail muses what prospective buyers might find in the estate agent's blurb: "The accommodation has many original features, including a fully-fitted nerve centre and hard-standing suitable for helicopters."