British reaction: The capture of Saddam Hussein should bring reconciliation and peace between the peoples of Iraq, the British Prime Minister said yesterday. Frank Millar in London
Mr Blair stressed the "shared victory" and "common interest" which the Iraqi people had with the coalition which has pledged to hand power to a sovereign, independent Iraqi state based on principles of justice, democracy and the rule of law.
Hailing a "time for celebration", Mr Blair said the removal of Saddam's "shadow" also represented "a time of great opportunity" for the people of Iraq, the Middle East and the world.
As news of Saddam's capture was broadcast around the globe, there was an immediate sense in London that this breakthrough would provide a strong, if temporary, boost to Mr Blair after months of relentless criticism over the original case for war and the failure still to discover Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
However, if the Prime Minister was privately elated, his public demeanour was sober and subdued during a Downing Street statement in which he kept the focus firmly on the Iraqi people and their future prospects.
"The shadow of Saddam has finally lifted from the Iraqi people," he said. "We give thanks for that but let this be more than a case simply for rejoicing. Let it be a moment to reach out and reconcile."
To the Sunnis, whose allegiance Saddam had falsely claimed, Mr Blair promised: "There is a place for you playing a full part in a new and democratic Iraq."
To those formerly in Saddam's party - "there by force and not by conviction" - he appealed: "We can put the past behind us." And he continued: "Where his rule meant terror and division and brutality, let his capture bring about reconciliation and peace between all the people in Iraq. Saddam is gone from power. He will not be coming back. That the Iraqi people now know and it is they who will decide his future."
A "truly delighted" Conservative leader, Mr Michael Howard, echoed that sentiment provided that "a fair and transparent trial" could be conducted in Iraq. Mr Howard also told Sky News there were "sound reasons for thinking this might be a major turning point" in the post-war situation.
However, the Liberal Democrat leader Mr Charles Kennedy suggested the present "precarious" position in Iraq meant a trial there would not be practical and said the United Nations and the International Criminal Courts should be brought into play. Mr Kennedy also cautioned that in "the euphoria" following Saddam's capture it should not be assumed loyalist extremists would give up their struggle.
He told the Press Association: "The fact that he has remained at large in the country for so long has been an enormous destabilising factor but it must be remembered in the euphoria following his capture that his loyalists remain a fanatical band who may not give up their struggle immediately."
While Mr Howard's assessment proves correct, Mr Blair's tone yesterday told that he had no need of Mr Kennedy's caution. Plainly all too conscious of the ongoing danger facing coalition forces, Mr Blair told the Iraqi people "we are on the same side", asked "who is against us?" and provided his own answer: "The tiny minority of Iraqis who wanted Saddam back and must now know their cause is a futile one. An assortment of foreign terrorists who have entered Iraq and whose greatest fear is a new Iraq spelled the end of their vile campaign of terror and propaganda against the Arab and the Western world working in partnership together."
With his own political partnership with Chancellor Gordon Brown showing some recent signs of improvement, Mr Blair will be hoping that Saddam's capture will win him some respite from Labour critics who opposed the war and believe that he and President Bush "sold it" on a false prospectus. However, even given a speedy and visible improvement in the security situation in Iraq, Downing Street knows such respite will be temporary unless the end of the line for Saddam encourages former members of his regime to point the discovery team in the direction of the still-elusive WMD.
For if Christmas feels to have come early, Mr Blair and his advisers know that the New Year will bring Lord Hutton's report about the death of Dr David Kelly and, with it, a newly charged debate about those weapons and the threat, if any, they posed to Britain or Britain's interests.