Brown to announce Iraq War inquiry

Sources confirmed the decision was expected in a statement to Parliament over the course of the week.

But already controversy was mounting over reports that the inquiry will be held behind closed doors.

The announcement, designed to bolster Mr Brown's standing among MPs and activists who opposed the 2003 conflict, comes as the row over his leadership continues to rumble on.

Former deputy prime minister John Prescott issued a sharp rebuke to David Miliband for an interview in which he confirmed he had considered quitting the Cabinet at the height of the leadership crisis.

Mr Prescott accused Mr Miliband of feeding disunity and said his suspicions about the Foreign Secretary's motives were fuelled when he saw him in intense discussions with leading Blairite Alan Milburn in Westminster last week.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told the Sunday People he did not believe there was "anyone else in Parliament" as well-equipped to lead the country as Mr Brown, in comments the paper interpreted as a warning to potential rivals like Mr Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson not to challenge him.

And Schools Secretary Ed Balls dismissed as "completely untrue" a claim that he had privately assured Labour MPs he would "get rid" of Mr Brown if his poll ratings had not improved significantly by the party's annual conference in September.

The News of the World quoted an unnamed "senior Labour MP" as saying that Mr Balls - Mr Brown's closest Cabinet ally - spoke to MPs in the Commons dining room after Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party at which the PM faced down critics.

"We know we are going to lose the next election," the unnamed MP said. "But there is a hell of a difference between losing and ending up with just 100 MPs. That is the way we are heading. And it is dawning on even those around Gordon." A spokesman for Mr Balls said: "It is a ridiculous work of fiction. Ed Balls said no such thing in the dining room or to any MP."