Jack Straw told MPs yesterday that maximum pressure is being put on Robert Mugabe, the controversial president of Zimbabwe.

The foreign secretary said: "What we have done is to secure sanctions by the Commonwealth, sanctions by the European Union, sanctions by the IMF and the increasing international isolation of Zimbabwe."

Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, said ministers were "walking by on the other side".

He said the policy of quiet diplomacy was "nothing more than a cover for appeasement".