Brown: 1,000 troops ‘home for Christmas’

Gordon Brown has announced 1,000 troops will be withdrawn from Basra by the end of the year, on his first trip to Iraq since becoming prime minister.

This significant withdrawal will leave only 4,500 British troops stationed in the southern province of Basra.

On a visit to meet senior politicians today, Mr Brown also confirmed Basra will be completely under Iraqi control within the next two months.

This signals a move by the new prime minister to distance himself from the mistakes of the Blair legacy, ahead of a possible early election this autumn.

Also present today at this visit was the commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petreaus, who last month gave testimony on the American troop ‘surge’ before a heavily sceptical Democratic Congress.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, who has been severely criticised for failing to subdue sectarian violence or unite the Iraqi parliament, was also there to meet with Mr Brown.

At the Labour conference last week, foreign secretary David Miliband spoke of a “second wave” in New Labour’s foreign policy agenda.

The symbolic shift launched by Mr Miliband, recognised the need to “move on” from the unpopular entanglements of the last decade, while retaining strong bonds with our European and American allies.

In Iraq today, the prime minister gave these sentiments meaning by announcing that many troops may “be home for Christmas” providing political reconciliation and security circumstances improve over the coming months.

Mr Brown commended the "great courage, professionalism and bravery" of the British forces serving in the country, saying: "What we propose to do over these next few months is to move from a situation where we have a combat role to an overwatch role.

“This would involve the present British force of 5,500 being cut to 4,500 - freeing up the troops for other duties.”

Senior military officials estimate British troops could still find themselves carrying out overwatch duties in Basra for two more years.