TONY Blair, whose Premiership came under real threat in the run up to theIraq war, was promised a "Baghdad bounce". A reversal in fortunes as critical MPs and a sceptical public realised he had been right all along - Saddam Hussein was not just evil, but dangerous.

Immediately after the dictator's statue being toppled by liberated Iraqis, it looked like he would get his much-needed popularity surge.

But the bounce has turned into a battering - as allegations Downing Street "sexed up" the document which made the case for war refuse to go away.

There must be some confusion about why the issue has returned to haunt Mr Blair - who was pictured sweating buckets at the G8 summit in Evian.

If the evidence was doctored, we cannot turn back time and undo the

consequences of the war it justified.

But the key issue is now one of trust. Did politicians interfere in the work of the intelligence services to win the crucial Commons vote sanctioning war? Did Mr Blair, in effect, mislead the country and Parliament?

One Labour MP said if these charges were proved he may find himself in even deeper trouble than the Warergate scandal that sunk President Nixon. This is hyperbole, but two Parliamentary investigations are already underway and the clamour for a full judicial inquiry can only increase.

Mr Blair - who famously managed to sleep during the war itself - may yet find himself tossing and turning during the nights to come.

Unsurprisingly, other developments at Westminster slipped by largely unnoticed. There was the hugely entertaining revelation the Labour Party is considering a new crackdown - this time on fat people and smokers.

Under proposals to be put to the party's annual conference in September, the overweight would have to sign a contract promising to lose weight in return for receiving treatment from their doctor.

And heavy smokers would be expected to pledge to give up cigarettes. I

wonder what most of the male members of Mr Blair's cabinet make of this?

They may soon have an extra piece of paper to sign, in addition to those

found in their Ministerial red boxes.

Meanwhile, Patricia Hewitt likened Tony Blair and his ministers to pigs.

But this was not a reference to their obvious eating and drinking habits -

rather to the traitorous porkers found in George Orwell's Animal Farm.

(They expelled humans from the farm to pursue a just society. But the pigs soon became dominant, ruling the other animals in the same was as their former human masters.)

"We will be painted as the party of technocrats and managers - indistinguishable, as in Orwell's Animal Farm, from the establishment we worked so hard to overturn," the Trade Secreaty said.

The most colourful remark of the week belonged to a Tory politician,

however. Former Welsh Office Minister Rod Richards fell out with Richmond MP and former Tory leader William Hague, along with his Conservative colleagues in Wales, about three years ago.

Clearly, Mr Richards who is bankrupt and alcoholic, still holds a grudge.

He said: "The bunch of b*****ds that have been running the Conservative Party over the last two or three years, when I have finished with them they are going to feel as though they have been f****d by a train."

At least Mr Blair does not have Mr Richards as an enemy.

Updated: 12:09 Friday, June 06, 2003