The Iraq conflict today continued to cast a long shadow over Labour's annual conference despite British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's best efforts to put the controversy behind him.
As a new video emerged showing British hostage Mr Ken Bigley shackled and behind bars, the government faced a leaked Pentagon report which suggested that Britain was involved in planning for war in Iraq for at least nine months before MPs approved military action.
The secret briefing paper, published in London's Evening Standard, suggested that military commanders took part in a war planning conference with US counterparts as early as June 2002 at a time when Mr Blair was insisting that no decisions had been taken on military action.
The claims added to the pressure on Mr Blair just as senior ministers were fighting to head off a potential defeat in tomorrow's conference debate on Iraq. Nevertheless, it looked likely that heavy ministerial pressure would prompt constituency parties to withdraw two critical motions.
And a flurry of meetings all day involving Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw, Defence Secretary Mr Geoff Hoon and party chairman Mr Ian McCartney and the leaders of the big four trade unions looked to have won backing for a statement from the party's governing National Executive Committee designed to take the sting out of the debate.
All the unions were due to meet in the morning to finalise their position. In the new video, screened on Arab TV station Al-Jazeera, 62-year-old Mr Bigley appeared to be kneeling inside a cage and was seen weeping.
Mr Bigley referred to Mr Blair in the footage, saying: "He doesn't care about me. I'm just one, just one person." He also accused Mr Blair of doing nothing to secure his release.
Earlier in the day, Mr Blair told GMTV that the Government was attempting to make contact with the kidnappers. "We are trying to make contact with them and we are doing everything we possibly can," said Mr Blair.
The leaked Pentagon document fuelled speculation that Mr Blair agreed in principle to join the US in military action at his April 2002 summit at President George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas - something the Prime Minister has always denied.
According to Evening Standardcorrespondent Mr Andrew Gilligan, it was prepared by the Pentagon for a presentation by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in August last year.
It details a series of planning meetings and war preparations taking place before the United Nations Security Council passed its Resolution 1441 on November 8th, 2002, which gave Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to disarm or face "serious consequences".
But Downing Street insisted today that, while planning for "a range of contingencies" in Iraq had taken place over the months before the war, the decision to join the US in combat was not taken until after the Commons vote on March 18th last year.
PA