She also accepted that the invasion might come to be judged as a foreign policy disaster for Britain. Mrs Beckett’s admission comes as two opinion polls reveal that most Britons would like British troops to be pulled out either immediately or by Christmas.

On the day that Iraq appealed to the international community not to “cut and run”, Mrs Beckett said she envisaged Iraq being left behind as a democratic country, which could cope and that was back on its feet. She said it had been overoptimistic for people to imagine that in three years Iraq would have a democracy like Britain’s, which had taken hundreds of years to develop.

But asked whether Iraq might fragment she said: “Everyone has been very keen to keep everyone together, but in the longer term . . . it is not for us to say, ‘You will do this or you will do that’.”

Pressed on whether it would be a disaster if Iraq split up, she replied: “If that is what they want and they feel it is workable that is another matter.” Iraq is made up of three regions: the Kurdish north, the predominantly Sunni central area and the mainly Shia south. But there is an overlap among the populations and there are fears of ethnic cleansing if partition is attempted.

Mrs Beckett’s assessment came amid pressure on both sides of the Atlantic for a withdrawal date for troops. Barham Salih, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, speaking after talks with Tony Blair, said that the future of Iraq was vital to the future of the Middle East, and that Iraqis would need help for some time. He said: “This is a society that was traumatised by 35 years of tyranny.”

Mr Blair had assured Mr Salih that there would be no early withdrawal. He said that it was for the Iraqi Government to judge when it was ready to take responsibility for security. His spokesman said that any decision on the withdrawal would be a political decision. No 10 also rejected in advance suggestions that Mr Blair intended to use the meeting to press Mr Salih for assurances that Iraqi security forces would be ready to take over control of the south within 12 months.

Mrs Beckett, who also met Mr Salih, accepted that the in- vasion may come to be judged by historians as a foreign policy disaster. When asked on The World at One on BBC Radio 4, she said: “Yes, they may. Then again, they may not.”

In an ICM poll for The Guardian, 60 per cent want to see troops withdrawn by the end of the year, regardless of the state of Iraq, while a survey for The Independent finds 62 per cent favour an immediate pull-out.

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