The Minister for Overseas Development, Clare Short, has said she has made the hard choice and elected to keep her job. She insisted that it would have been easy to resign, that making a U-turn on her previous commitment to resign was a principled stand, and that only war can lead to peace.

Cabinet colleagues were reportedly pleased with her decision, pointing out that it was exactly this kind of logic that made her perfect for Tony Blair's administration.

International aid agencies said Ms Short had done a lot of work for overseas development and would be remembered as they cleared away the rubble trying to save buried children.