Britain was considering a US request yesterday to move troops into more potentially dangerous areas of Iraq, a politically charged move which has re-ignited anger over Prime Minister Tony Blair’s support for the war. Officials say Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon will confirm the request in a “holding statement” to parliament, but will stress he has made no decision yet.

“The request is being considered on its benefits,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said, adding that any decision would be made on operational grounds. British troops have until now operated only in the relatively quiet Basra area of southern Iraq, where some 8,000 UK troops are stationed. Since the Iraq war began, 68 British troops have died, compared with well over 1,000 American troops.

Analysts say up to 650 British troops may be moved north in response to the US request to cover for US units battling insurgents in the rebel-held city of Falluja and elsewhere. The most likely move would be to redeploy troops from the army’s Black Watch regiment from Basra to US controlled areas south of Baghdad. Commentators suggest the volatile towns of Iskandariya, Latifiya and Hilla as possible destinations.

Opposition politicians accused Blair of preparing to put the lives of UK troops at greater risk for the sake of President George W. Bush, whose performance in Iraq is a key issue in upcoming presidential elections in November. A central theme of Democratic challenger John Kerry’s attack on Bush is that his go-it-alone approach in invading Iraq has left United States soldiers shouldering the vast majority of the post-war military burden.

Cabinet Minister Lord Falconer insisted politics, whether national or international, had no influence on the decision. “It is entirely operational. It is a matter for the (Hoon) to deal with later today,” he told BBC radio. But Charles Kennedy, leader of Britain’s third party the Liberal Democrats and a fierce opponent of the war, said it was difficult to see why Washington thought the redeployment of a British unit of around 650 troops – just 0.5 percent of the total coalition troops in Iraq – was so vital at this time.

He said Britain should be planning its withdrawal from Iraq, not becoming more deeply involved. “This, far from being an exit strategy, runs the risk of being an ensnarement strategy that drags Britain further into the mire,” he told BBC radio.

Any prospect of a sharp rise in British casualties would be acutely uncomfortable for Blair, whose unpopular decision to join President Bush in the March 2003 invasion has hit his ratings and divided his party. Thousands of anti-war protesters marched though London on Sunday to demand UK troops withdraw from Iraq altogether.