Iraq invasion hounds Blair as MP quits

Brian Sedgemore, a Labour lawmaker for 27 years who is now retiring from parliament, said he had joined the opposition Liberal Democrats, who opposed the March 2003 Iraq conflict.

"I urge everyone from the centre and left of British politics to give Blair a bloody nose at the general election and vote for the Liberal Democrats," Sedgemore told reporters.

The defection was not entirely unexpected -- Sedgemore was a long-time Labour rebel who had consistently criticised the Iraq war -- but was nonethless deeply uncomfortable for Blair, just nine days before the May 5 poll.

Although Labour remained well ahead in a new opinion poll published Tuesday, party strategists remain worried that Blair's decision to back the US-led war has alienated many traditional left-wing supporters.