A FORMER Labour parliamentary candidate for Worcester has accused Tony Blair of being "more deeply Conservative" than Margaret Thatcher in his support for military action against Iraq.

Mike Webb, who stood against Lord Walker in the 1987 election, said it was time for party members to recognise that the Prime Minster "has to go".

He said that while he was a candidate, Mrs Thatcher allowed the American government to use British bases to bomb Libya.

At the time, he and other Labour party members condemned her for her disregard for the United Nations and international law.

"Now, a decade later, we have a Labour Government and Worcester has a Labour MP. Yet, faced with a similar request from the Americans, they have changed sides," he said.

"Indeed they have gone further, doing more to undermine the sovereignty of the UN than Mrs Thatcher ever dared.

"Tony Blair's version of what it means to be "Labour" is more deeply Conservative than Margaret Thatcher ever was," he added.

Mr Webb, who left the party after Mr Blair was elected, has called on Worcester's constituency Labour party to tell the public where it stands on the issue of war in Iraq.

"In particular it should tell us what steps it has taken to stop its MP Mike Foster and its Prime Minister supporting military action," he said.

City councillor and vice-chairman of the local constituency party Marc Bayliss said members had varied and wide-ranging views on the issue and had had the opportunity to discuss those with Mr Foster at one of their regular meetings.

"I am sure he will take those opinions into account in his thinking and will do what he feels is best for Worcester and the UK," he said.