THE majority of Labour’s potential new MPs dare not talk about the war in Iraq, with just one in 12 of them prepared to back Tony Blair’s decision to send in British troops, a Times survey has shown.

Mr Blair has described the 48 new candidates defending seats in which a Labour MP is stepping down as even more new Labour than himself, but only four of them would publicly support his decision to go to war. Two of the four said they had grave reservations.

More than a quarter of the new candidates in Labour seats said that they were against the war and half simply refused to discuss their views on Mr Blair’s most controversial decision.

The findings came after Mr Blair appealed yesterday for an end to attacks on his “character and integrity” as the Tories and Liberal Democrats tried to keep trust and Iraq in the spotlight. As the Lib Dems called for an inquiry and the Tories asked for the advice of the Attorney-General to be published, Mr Blair said: “Let’s stop having this argument about whether it’s my character or my integrity that’s at issue here and understand the decision had to be taken.”

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “The silence of these candidates suggests that they share the judgment of many in this country that the Prime Minister made an appalling error of judgment in going to war in Iraq. They cannot just shrug that off. They are campaigning to be elected as part of a Blair administration and a more principled position would be to refuse to stand.”

Liam Fox, the Conservative co-chairman, said: “At a time when people are crying out for greater trust in their politicians, these new Labour underlings are proving even more slippery than the ones they are hoping to replace.

They will not have Tony Blair’s picture on their election literature, now they will not support his policy. Labour’s candidates want to be a Blair-free zone.”

Mr Blair said that he respected those who held different views on Iraq but refused to apologise for taking Britain to war. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told The Times that he understood Labour candidates who did not support his position on Iraq. He said: “I think that is fine. It was controversial and we have to respect different views.”

The Times found that 15 of the 48 new Labour hopefuls in Labour seats were prepared to state their opposition to the war. This accords with the Downing Street view that around two thirds of the potential new intake are “loyal” and a third are potential rebels.

In 29 of the 48 seats the Labour candidate simply refused to discuss Iraq, despite repeated requests. Several said they did not take part in surveys while others insisted that it was not a relevant question. Jayne Innes, hoping to succeed Estelle Morris in Birmingham Yardley, said: “Iraq was a big issue 12 months ago. I was not an MP then. I suggest you ask Estelle.”

Sian James, standing in Swansea East, added: “It is too close to the general election to comment.”

Two of the four candidates who supported the war were Downing Street special advisers: Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East) was a senior adviser to Mr Blair, and Ed Balls (Normanton) was chief economic adviser to Gordon Brown.

The other two had doubts, despite backing military action. Alison Seabeck (Plymouth Devonport) said: “I would have supported the Government on the war in Iraq. With hindsight and the benefit of new information, I don’t know.”

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