Euro media on Labour 'mutiny'

"Warlord" Tony Blair got a "nasty surprise"

Rebellion, mutiny, a wake-up call - that is how European media see the parliamentary revolt by Labour Party MPs against the Iraq policy of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Numerically, Mr Blair won the arguments but more than a quarter of his Labour Party backed an amendment stating that the case for war was unproven.

The debate, says the Swiss Le Temps, "not only highlighted the depth of the split tearing Labour apart" but also showed that "the defiance towards the British-American strategy" is not limited to a "tiny group of Old Labour stalwarts".

"For a parliament accustomed to party discipline", it says, the "impressive" number of Labour MPs who rebelled "sounds like a death knell for the government's pro-American strategy".

'Slap in the face'

In France, La Chaine Info TV called the Labour rebellion in the House of Commons "a real slap in the face" for Mr Blair.

An unexpected result, which takes on the character of a warning in the event of Britain going to war side by side with the United States without a UN Security Council mandate

Liberation

"Almost 200 MPs in the House of Commons voted against war, and among them 122 MPs from the Labour Party, Tony Blair's party - a disavowal which could cost him very dear," the TV said.

"Blair given rough ride", is the headline in the left-wing Liberation paper.

The paper's London correspondent calls the vote "an unexpected result, which takes on the character of a warning in the event of Britain going to war side by side with the United States without a UN Security Council mandate".

Mutiny against warlord Blair.. his position is slowly becoming hopeless

Der Spiegel

"Tony Blair knew that he could count on support from the Conservative Party, which defends a line even more Atlanticist than his own. Most of the attacks on his pro-war choices came in fact from his own ranks."

'Warlord Blair'

Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine headlines its report "Mutiny against warlord Blair".

Mr Blair survived the debate "with a black eye", the magazine says. "But his position is slowly becoming hopeless."

Der Spiegel calls the size of the rebellion in both votes "a nasty surprise" for the prime minister.

It says the decision by Mr Blair and his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to leave the House of Commons chamber during the debate was "not exactly a great moment for democracy".

A new and serious warning to Tony Blair about how the previously high degree of harmony between his political decisions and the hopes of the majority of his fellow citizens is weakening

El Pais

Blair is now facing formidable problems, Der Spiegel says. "His party is split, and is suffering terrific losses in membership and popularity."

Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung is more measured, choosing "House of Commons majority for Iraq policy" as its headline.

The paper reports that the large rebellion is being interpreted in the UK media as a "setback for Blair".

'Serious warning'

Spain's El Pais calls the vote "a new and serious warning to Tony Blair about how the previously high degree of harmony between his political decisions and the hopes of the majority of his fellow citizens is weakening".

The paper says this "wake-up call" is significant.

[Blair is] in the unpleasant position of having to choose sooner rather than later between the anti-war feeling within his own party and his transatlantic loyalty

El Pais

"Westminster is a global loudspeaker, and what is heard there, being a precise echo of some of the arguments raging in the Security Council, will force Blair to gauge very carefully his next moves on Iraq."

El Pais argues that the vote raises fundamental questions about British foreign policy.

It puts Mr Blair "in the unpleasant position of having to choose sooner rather than later between the anti-war feeling within his own party and his transatlantic loyalty".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.