Downer jumps to defend Blair Thursday 27 February 2003, 17:05PM Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has come to the defence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, praising his courage in the face of a Labour Party revolt against his stand on Iraq. In the British Parliament, nearly 200 members of the House of Commons voted for an amendment to declare that the case for military action against Iraq was as yet unproven. While the measure failed, it was a major blow to Mr Blair with a quarter of those in support coming from his own Labour ranks, the biggest party revolt since he became prime minister six years ago. "I can only say this to you, that it underlines the enormous courage and principles of Tony Blair," Mr Downer said. "Here is a man coming from the left of politics who is deeply concerned, not only about Iraq's breach of international law, but also the appalling human rights record of Saddam Hussein. "He has some opponents in his own party but that's not stopping him. "I think that is a great credit to a man that he should have the courage to stand up to his critics for the things he believes in." Mr Downer said he also believed that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would continue playing his cat-and-mouse game with the United Nations, waiting until the last minute to start destroying banned missiles. He said it would be consistent with Iraq's pattern of behaviour to begin destroying the Al-Samoud 2 missiles by Saturday to fall in line with demands from weapons inspectors. "What Saddam Hussein does, he plays along with the United Nations, he plays a cat-and-mouse game with the United Nations," he said. "So he'll wait until he gets right up to the deadline, which is the first of March, to start destroying the Al-Samoud missiles. "Suddenly, just as we get to the deadline, he'll more likely than not, I suspect, announce that he'll start destroying some of them." ©2003 AAP Brought to you by