THE Church of England has forced Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, into an embarrassing climbdown over his plans to commemorate the end of the Iraq war with a triumphant thanksgiving service.

Hoon angered church leaders by announcing without consultation that the service ?? at St Paul??s Cathedral on October 10 ?? was to give thanks for freeing Iraq of ??tyranny??.

His gaffe brought him into direct conflict with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who feared the event would become triumphalist at a time when British soldiers were still being killed in Iraq. Williams insisted the service was toned down to one of remembrance for the victims on both sides of the conflict.

One source close to the archbishop said: ??We really dug our heels in and demanded the idea that this could be a thanksgiving be erased. We got our way in the end.??

The row is yet another blow for Hoon, who came under renewed pressure to resign last week when the influential parliamentary intelligence and security committee said it was ??disturbed?? by his apparent withholding of evidence.

It is traditional to hold a national church service at the end of a conflict. But church leaders were surprised when Hoon issued a statement to parliament in July when the crisis was yet to be resolved.

Following a tabloid newspaper campaign ?? backed by some MPs ?? for a government tribute to the returning troops, Hoon said: ??The service will give thanks for the role the UK forces played in ending tyranny in Iraq.??

Although Hoon stopped short of offering a full-blown victory parade similar to the one after the Falklands war in 1982, the proposals by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) upset several leading figures in the church.

John Moses, the dean of St Paul??s who will be conducting the service, was disappointed with Hoon??s ??sloppy language??. He said that later ??it came to us via the MoD that the emphasis was to be on thanksgiving for the professionalism of our troops. We don??t have a problem with that but if you put thanksgiving with capital letters on the invitation, alarm bells would start ringing??.

At the heart of the dispute is a deep uneasiness inside the church about whether the war was justified. Williams, who will deliver a sermon during the service, has made plain his opposition but kept his silence during the military conflict so as to avoid offending troops and their families.

Yesterday Michael Hare Duke, the former bishop of St Andrews, said he was one of those who had objected to Hoon??s proposal.

??God doesn??t bless bombs, so what would we be thanking Him for,?? he said.

Last night the Ministry of Defence said it was in complete agreement with the church over the content of the service: ??Our relations with St Paul??s have been close and amicable.??

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