Michael Meacher, the former environment minister, is today expected to announce that he will challenge Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership.

Mr Meacher, who has become increasingly critical of government policy since leaving office, has been widely expected to put his name forward as a leftwing candidate to succeed Tony Blair.

His spokesman said he would be making a statement about the leadership in Westminster at noon.

Mr Meacher is understood to be confident that he has more support among Labour MPs than his leftwing leadership rival, John McDonnell, who is the only MP to have declared his candidacy so far.

Since leaving the government in 2003, Mr Meacher has become a leading critic of government policy, campaigning for greater action on climate change and against plans to renew Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

He has also called his decision to support the invasion of Iraq the “biggest error” of his political life, denouncing Tony Blair for the “farrago of lies” he used to lead Britain to war in the Guardian.

Though the chancellor remains the favourite to succeed Mr Blair there has been increasing concern that he will prove unable to reverse the Conservatives’ leadership in the opinion polls.

A recent Guardian poll found that voter gave the Tories a 13-point lead when asked which party they would back in a likely contest between Mr Brown and the Tory leader David Cameron.

Concern about the chancellor’s electoral appeal has led to speculation about the possibility that environment minister David Miliband might decide to stand for the leadership. Mr Miliband has so far denied he is considering a run.

Mr Meacher, who has been an MP since 1970, previously stood for the deputy Labour leadership in 1983. He was defeated by Roy Hattersley by 67% to 28%.

THE manner of Saddam Hussein’s execution was “completely wrong”, Tony Blair said last night but it should not “blind us to the crimes he committed against his own people”.

Mr Blair, who has faced criticism for his public silence on the execution, spoke out for the first time at a Downing Street press conference. “The crimes that Saddam committed do not excuse the manner of his execution, but the manner of his execution does not excuse the crimes,” he said.

The former Iraqi dictator was put to death on 30 December after being convicted of crimes against humanity. The sentence was already the subject of controversy, but tensions were heightened after leaked footage showed him being taunted by guards on the gallows.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, had spoken out against the “deplorable” manner of the execution. Mr Blair, however, had resisted opportunities to make clear his view, his only comment being support, expressed via a spokesman, for an Iraqi government inquiry.

Yesterday, as he faced questions in the wake of the talks, he told reporters: “As has been very obvious from the comments of other ministers and indeed from my own official spokesman, the manner of the execution of Saddam was completely wrong.

“But that should not blind us to the crimes he committed against his own people, including the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, one million causalities in the Iran/Iraq war and the use of chemical weapons against his own people, wiping out entire villages.”

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SACRAMENTO - How great is California? Well, if it broke off from the United States and became its own country, it would be the sixth-largest economy in the world, as the oft-repeated phrase goes.

The description has become ubiquitous, championed so often by politicians and reporters that it has become boilerplate for describing the states buoyant economy. Most recently, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used it in his state of the state address to make a case for comparing California to ancient Greece a modern-day nation-state.

California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta, Schwarzenegger said during Tuesdays address. As you know, California, if a nation, would be the sixth-largest economy in the world.

If only it were true.

Californias economy no longer ranks No. 6, but rather is the eighth-largest economy in the world.

The state, with about 37 million residents, ranks behind the United States, Japan, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, according to U.S. Commerce Department and World Bank figures. Spain and Canada complete the top 10.

No California official has bothered to correct the figures public use. Schwarzenegger, it turns out, has never even governed the sixth-largest economy.

The state ranked seventh when he was elected during the 2003 recall election, having just slipped behind France and Italy in gross domestic product, according to the World Bank and California finance officials, who annually rank the states economy based on figures provided by the Commerce Department.

California last ranked sixth in 1999. 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.