Ghost of a flea

Nick Clegg declared the invasion of Iraq 'illegal' yesterday - leaving British troops and Tony Blair at risk of war crimes trials brought by opponents of the war. The Deputy Prime Minister plunged Westminster into chaos by stating his personal view during Prime Minister's Question Time in the Commons as if it was Government policy.

Standing in for David Cameron, who is thousands of miles away in America, Mr Clegg taunted Labour MPs that they had supported 'the illegal invasion of Iraq'.

David Cameron faced a furious backlash yesterday for the astonishing claim that the UK was a 'junior partner' to America in 1940 - a year before the U.S. even entered the war. The Prime Minister was accused of forgetting the sacrifices made in 1940 by those who fought in the Battle of Britain, the heroes of Dunkirk and the Londoners bombed out of their homes in the Blitz.

Downing Street hastily claimed that Mr Cameron had meant to refer to the 1940s in general. But by then the damage was done.

General Sir Patrick Cordingley, former commander of the Desert Rats, said: 'I am quite sure if Winston Churchill were alive today he would be dismayed.'

Almost a quarter of babies are born to immigrant mothers, an official breakdown showed yesterday. It found that 24.7 per cent of children born last year have mothers who were born abroad – and that their numbers have doubled since the late 1990s.

The sharply rising numbers of babies with foreign-born mothers came despite an overall fall in births.

The figures produced fresh warnings to ministers that immigration rates must be brought down to avoid the growing threat of overpopulation in Britain.