Blair: On form

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown put on a very public display of unity for PMQs in a bid to stop more claims of a growing rift between them.

The prime minister and his chancellor were the picture of happiness on Wednesday afternoon and little came from the Opposition benches to break their air of bon viveur.

Returning to keep a watchful eye on her former charges, the previous Speaker, Baroness Betty Boothroyd, cast a long glance over proceedings from the Lords seats in the gallery.

The vocal gremlins returned to hamper Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith who began with the "shoulder to shoulder stuff" of the Afghan war.

"One of the great successes in the war against terrorism has been the role of this country in holding together the coalition with the US. Will you take this opportunity to reaffirm that Britain and the US remain as one in our objectives namely the removal of the Taliban, bringing bin Laden and al Qaida to justice and delivering humanitarian aid?"

Blair replied: "I am happy to confirm that. There is complete agreement, both on the military objectives of removing the Taliban regime, which I am pleased to say is largely now achieved, on making sure we pursue and hunt down the terrorist network of al Qaida, which we have made considerable progress on."

Duncan Smith followed with his favourite subject of troops and asked Blair to confirm the troop deployment numbers would remain unchanged.

"Will you confirm that the number of troops on standby remains the same as last week and no decision has yet been taken on whether or when they will deploy and any such decision will be made in full consultation with the US?''

Blair said there had been no change in the way decisions were taken and corrected stories about troops being put on standby."The reason we put the troops on 48-hour standby is that this situation in Afghanistan is developing day by day. We have to remain with the troops on standby to use as and when it is appropriate. A degree of flexibility here, far from being a hindrance, is the only sensible position to have."Labour MP Laura Moffatt called on the prime minister to aid the airline industry and visit staff at Gatwick airport.

Blair accepted workers in the industry were "obviously experiencing very difficult times" but backed the EU principle that there should be no general bailouts.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy challenged the prime minister over reports of racism in the NHS. Kennedy said it was ridiculous that at a time when there was a shortage of consultant staff that non-EU doctors who had served the NHS for years could not apply for specialist posts.

Blair replied the situation was not due to racism but the way rules were being applied and that the issue would be looked into.

The prime minister also hit into the long grass questions over classroom assistants, who he said did "absolutely invaluable work'' and were an important part of the education system.

Iain Duncan Smith returned to the dispatch box with the now-familiar topic of Railtrack and asked if Blair agreed with the chairman of the strategic rail authority that Stephen Byers had done "a tremendous amount of damage".

"I don't" came the reply, along with a repeat of the government's defence. "I believe it was absolutely essential that we stopped pouring billions and billions and billions of public money into a company that was effectively bankrupt."

Duncan Smith returned that investors could not trust the government and claimed rail travellers would have to put up with more delays and higher taxes.

Blair replied the Conservatives wanted to compensate shareholders, big and small, at the full price whereas the government wanted to put the money into the rail network.

Duncan Smith came back with a letter from Labour-supporter "Mrs Lloyd" who had lost all of her Railtrack shares that had been bought for the care of a sick relative. To hoots of derision from the government benches, which forced the Speaker to reprimand Labour's Brian Donohoe for barracking the Tory leader, Duncan Smith read her description of the transport minister an "absolute con man" and invited Blair to agree with him.

"Isn't she absolutely right and isn't it time to say to the secretary of state 'it's time to go?'" Duncan Smith said.

The prime minister rejected the attacks on Byers and rounded on the Tories for wanting to bail out Railtrack shareholders to the tune of £1 billion rather than invest it in the railways.

He also rejected calls for the government to intervene over the EU ban on supermarkets carrying grey-market designer clothing. "I'm afraid we have to abide by the rules," he said.

Tory backbencher Henry Bellingham claimed the prime minister was working towards a European army that would be led by Romano Prodi.

Blair said improved EU defence capabilities were important. "We can see why that is necessary by what is happening in Macedonia and in the Balkans," he said. "A European defence force is, if you like, another weapon in our armoury."

Blair told MPs the proposed European defence force was "entirely sensible" and would not have had any effect on any operations in Afghanistan.