1. Asked when he had last talked to a private soldier without his officer present, or ordinary Iraqis, Mr Blair snapped back: "Excuse me, Edward.

2. Sir Mike criticised the Ministry of Defence for its continuing failure to put the "soldier, sailor and airman and their families wholeheartedly to the forefront". "Whilst acknowledging recent modest improvements, not much over 1,000 a month for the private soldier for what he or she is doing on operations is hardly an impressive figure.

3. In bitter exchanges with the Tory MP Edward Leigh, Mr Blair claimed Shia extremists in Basra were seeking to prevent democratic government in the province, and denied that "tens of thousands of ordinary Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion or the removal of Saddam". Mr Leigh asked when was the last time Mr Blair had spoken to a private soldier without their officer listening, or an ordinary Iraqi.

4. Today the defence secretary, John Reid, will give his backing to UK forces, saying they are operating in "difficult and dangerous circumstances" and asking critics, during a keynote speech at London‘s Kings College, to be "a little slower to condemn and a lot quicker to understand". Troops, he will say, are now operating on an "uneven playing field of scrutiny", where the forces‘ actions are analysed down to the "level of the single private soldier", while the enemy "refuses any scrutiny at all and endeavours to exploit our highly prized free media against us". He will say: "It is this uneven battlefield ... which has done so much to encourage the perception among our troops that they are increasingly constrained while the enemy is freer than ever to perpetrate the most inhumane practices and crimes ... British forces act within the law, the terrorists do not.