LONDON, March 7: The British foreign office has made a swift U-turn by lifting its ban on a humanitarian aid flight to Baghdad after left-wing Labour MP George Galloway agreed to cut down the number of passengers on board the plane from 207 to around 30.

The decision to cut the number of passengers on board will mean that scores of aid workers, doctors, journalists, anti-sanctions campaigners and elderly Iraqis hoping to be reunited with their families will now be left out.

The Boeing 737, which has been provided by Dubai for providing humanitarian assistance to Iraqi people, will now leave on Saturday for Baghdad. It will be the first direct civilian flight between Britain and Baghdad since sanctions were imposed on Saddam Hussain's regime at the start of the Gulf war in 1991.

But in spite cut in the list of its passengers, Flt Lt John Nicholl and former U.N. official Dennis Halliday will still be going to Iraq on this flight. John Nicholl, who was shot down, captured and beaten by Iraqis during the war; intends to use his visit as an act of reconciliation with his former enemies.

Mr Galloway claimed yesterday that he had been in contact with the foreign office throughout the planning and there had been no objection until Flt Lt Nicholl's involvement became public last week. The foreign office, however, claimed that its objection was on the large number of passengers, which was transforming the flight into a "publicity stunt".

The Labour MP said he would be seeking a judicial review of the foreign office's rejection of the initial flight plan but accepts that the courts are unlikely to deliver a verdict before the plane is due to leave on Saturday. It is scheduled to fly via Dubai carrying #150,000 worth of medicines; most of the seats will be empty.

Under the terms of the United Nations sanctions against Iraq, flights to Baghdad must be referred to a UN committee in New York. Without the support of a national government approval would not be given. The sanctions committee was due to meet late last night and expected to back Mr Galloway's revised plans.

Mr Galloway is a veteran campaigner against UN sanctions on Iraq, which he claims are killing 7,000 Iraqi children every month.

Mr Galloway told a news conference last night that he would be submitting a revised list of 29 names to the Foreign Office.

He said that humanitarian flights should not be a matter for committees in New York to decide. "We will take the issue to judicial review".

Meanwhile, the ITV Channel on Monday night showed a documentary film showing that at least 4,000 children were dying in Iraq every month due to economic sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council.

The film criticized the U.N. Security Council, the United States and the United Kingdom and held them directly responsible for the killing of civilians in Iraq.

Exposing the double standards of the U.N. Security Council, USA and Britain and other Western countries, it said while on the one hand these countries and their heads espouse the cause of liberties, which include the right to life, on the other hand they were denying the people of Iraq this right of life by imposing harsh economic sanctions for no fault of theirs.

The documentary film showed Iraqi children dying in hospitals because of want of essential medicines and horrific details of the deaths.