"I haven't had a chance to speak to all the MPs at the meeting, but I think it's fair to say that Mr Prescott's statement is careful rather than an outright denial that he ever uttered those words.

"Most of Mr Prescott's gaffes — failing to pronounce words properly, for instance — have a tendency to make him a figure of fun. But for the first time, it looks like he has made a slip that has much of the Labour Party and the country saying 'Good on you'. So it's ironic that he's now claiming that he never made it.

"It's worth pointing out that it was Mr Bush's Middle East peace 'road map' that appears to have been the source of Mr Prescott's frustration, and although he would never admit it publicly, that frustration is something that Tony Blair shares. The failure of the US President to make any progress on a lasting deal between Israel and the Palestinians has been an enormous disappointment.

"Mr Bush once said he would devote as many hours to securing peace in the Middle East as Mr Blair did in Northern Ireland, but he's done nothing like that. The Prime Minister's own frustration seemed to boil over during his recent visit to California, where he gave a speech saying that opportunities had been missed in the region, and he was not talking about his own efforts.

"We're expecting Mr Blair to come up with a plan to remedy that when he returns from his holiday, and possibly to visit the Middle East in the autumn.

"One strange note to come out of backbencher Harry Cohen's account of the meeting is Mr Prescott supposedly saying that he only supported the Iraq war on the basis of Mr Bush's promise of ensuring the Middle East road map was implemented. I've never heard Mr Prescott say that before. Until now he has always been very supportive of the war and loyal to the Prime Minister, and has really avoided making life difficult.

"Mr Cohen, MP for Leyton and Wanstead, is a true old lefty but he has been a loyal MP, supportive of the Government rather than a serial rebel. For him to be the source of this story shows how contentious Britain's foreign policy is right now, and how out of step the Prime Minister has been with much of his own party.

"If Mr Prescott is prepared to question the US, that is a measure of how worried Labour is. Many Labour MPs have sizeable Muslim populations in their constituencies, and they saw what happened to Oona King, who lost her seat in East London to George Galloway's Respect party at the last election. Britain's role in the Middle East crisis and last week's terror alert is making them very uneasy about the weeks and months ahead."

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