Finger of blame points at Blair

Mr Blair embarked on the high-risk strategy after the former Cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short launched a damaging double attack on the Prime Minister, accusing him of deceiving the British public. Mr Cook demanded an independent investigation to show the government had made a "monumental blunder" over Iraq.

Mr Blair was last night engaged in a desperate behind-the-scenes fight at the G8 summit to find common cause between the world’s leading powers after Mr Chirac dismissed the UK plan. Mr Blair wants an agreed communique from the G8 on WMDs to prove the rift opened by the Iraq war was being healed.

However, the Prime Minister’s proposal to monitor shipping routes and keep tabs on retired Russian nuclear scientists failed to win the endorsement of the French president

Mr Blair arrived in Evian yesterday morning for the final leg of his six-day tour, aimed at reaching "closure" over the war by having the G8 industrialised countries agree joint action over WMDs.

He threw his weight behind a communique, to be agreed at a lunchtime meeting of the G8 today, where all nations would agree they face a common threat - and would crack down on nuclear material.

While the plan is also being backed by the US, Japan and Italy, the French delegation gave the proposal the cold shoulder. Mr Chirac’s spokeswoman said it was only a "subject to be considered".

Diplomats on both sides were last night engaged in frantic discussions. A general communique is likely to be agreed, but London is fighting to retain the detail.

The government also proposes to help former Soviet-era weapons scientists find alternative work, to avoid them being employed by terrorist states.

George Bush, the US president, arrived in Evian yesterday and leaves this afternoon.

Mr Blair laid his authority on the line at home over WMDs by promising to produce a third Iraq dossier, detailing WMDs found by occupying troops - although he admitted such a publication could take months.

The most withering attack came from Ms Short, who said she knew the central theme of Mr Blair’s first dossier, released last September, was invented in Downing Street and didn’t come from intelligence services. She said she knew from her time as international development secretary that the dossier had not been produced purely by the Joint Intelligence Committee, as Mr Blair suggests, but by "spin" from No 10.

"The (Cabinet) defence and overseas policy committee which should be in charge of this kind of thing didn’t meet before it all started," she said.

Her remarks, on BBC1, followed a separate attack in a scathing newspaper interview. "I have concluded that the PM decided to go to war in August sometime and he duped us all along," she said. "We were misled. I think we were deceived in the way it was done."

Mr Cook said that only a thorough, independent investigation into how the government had "got it wrong" over Iraq and especially WMDs would restore public confidence in No 10.

Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, called on Mr Blair to put an end to the speculation over WMDs - and not ask Britain to "have patience" until his dossier is released later this year: "What is important, if he has that further information, is that he makes it available publicly as soon as possible."

Labour backbenchers, almost half of whom opposed the Iraq war, are likely to support Mr Cook’s calls for an inquiry. Ann McKechin, MP for Glasgow Maryhill, called on Mr Blair to agree to a public inquiry.

"I do not believe Mr Blair set out to mislead the public, but there are issues here that need to be investigated fully and in public," she said.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, lent his full support to the embattled the Prime Minister. "The intelligence certainly wasn't wrong. The evidence is there, it is published. They had those weapons systems and they had been building them up," he said.

The G8 meeting today will start with a morning session on the economy. Other topics are terrorism and sustainable development. The main G8 banquet takes place this evening - without Mr Bush.

Around 50,000 anti-capitalist demonstrators rampaged through Geneva and Lausanne, smashing and looting shops and filling stations during protests over the summit. Stones and bottles were thrown at police, who responded with anti-riot pellets and tear gas.

A British protester suffered multiple fractures after falling 70ft from a road bridge when police cut a rope while he was erecting a banner. The 39-year-old man, from London, was among ten protesters injured. Two police officers were hurt.