In preparing for military action against Saddam Hussein the government is "acting in the national interest", Michael Ancram has said.

Responding to Jack Straw's Commons statement on Monday, the shadow foreign secretary backed the assessment that the time for talking was over.

He told MPs that "put bluntly, the talking is over" leaving the country facing "the grim prospect of war".

Ancram backed the government in holding France responsible for the failure to solve the crisis through diplomacy.

There was a chance that a clear and unanimous UN resolution would have persuaded Saddam to go he said. "France put paid to that."

"I hope that in Paris they will reflect tonight on what they have achieved," Ancram said.

He also pressed Straw on what contact he has had with the Turkish government over their safety in the event of a war.

And he asked what steps had been taken to reassure the Islamic community that this "was not an attack on the Muslim world".

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Michael Moore reminded Straw that while his thoughts were with Britain's armed forces, the United Nations secretary general had said that without a security council resolution the authority of any military action would be diminished.

"The disarmament of Saddam Hussein should continue under United Nations auspices," he said.

"At this moment the right decision would be to allow them [the weapons inspectors] to continue their endeavours and not to go to war."

Tony Baldry, Conservative chairman of the international development committee said that "we as a nation will be judged not just on the effectiveness of the military campaign but the efficiency of the humanitarian relief we bring to Iraq".