IMPEACH BUSH

GORDON Brown will remove all British forces from Iraq before the next election under a plan to rebuild support among disillusioned Labour voters.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal the Prime Minister elect is working on a withdrawal plan that could see troop numbers slashed from 7,000 to as few as 2,000 within 12 months.

If implemented, the strategy would culminate in total withdrawal no later than spring 2010, the date by which Brown must go to the country to seek his own mandate.

Policy under Tony Blair involved keeping a small force in Iraq for many years to come. But it emerged last night that President George Bush has been briefed by White House officials to expect an announcement from Downing Street within Brown's first 100 days in power.

The accelerated 'troops out' plan will prove unpopular in Washington, and leaves Brown open to accusations that after supporting the Iraq war he is now leaving its people to an increasingly uncertain future.

Yesterday, as Blair made his seventh and last visit as Prime Minister to Iraq, the security crisis was all too obvious. Mortars hit the British army HQ while he was there and Baghdad's Green Zone was also hit around the time of his visit.

Blair reiterated that he had "no regrets" about removing former Iraqi dictator Saddam from power, but discontent over his handling of the crisis was driven home when former US President Jimmy Carter condemned his "blind" support of the war in Iraq.

The Chancellor, who does not share Blair's personal commitment to the US-led operation, or his close relationship with President Bush, is now poised to seize the opportunity to open the Brown era with a "grand gesture" on Iraq.

Senior ministers last night confirmed that an accelerated draw-down of troops could be "comfortably achieved" well within two years, by which time Brown is expected to be preparing for an electoral showdown with David Cameron.

One senior Cabinet minister, expected to play a central role in Brown's first government, said an accelerated withdrawal from Iraq was one of the "foremost options" under consideration.

He added: "We are already committed to a withdrawal of sorts. The schedule can be altered so it is comfortably done within two years."

Under the blueprint for withdrawal announced by Blair in February, the 7,100 British troops currently in Iraq would be reduced to 5,000 by late summer, with an aspiration to reduce gradually over the following two years.

But the military plans sparked by the looming change at the top involve cutting the British presence more rapidly: to 4,000 by late summer and perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 by the year end.

The ultimate hope is to draw down to a "nominal" force within 18 months, and a virtually complete exit within two years of Brown coming to power.

Michael Codner, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, said declining public support and demands had raised expectations of changes in the British presence.

He said: "There is a growing view that British forces in Iraq will be reduced substantially in the next 12 months, perhaps to as low as 1,500. The change of leadership is an obvious catalyst."