Basra

1. Wide, exterior, British military base, AUDIO: sirens and explosion

Basra

2. SOUNDBITE: (English), Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:

"What you are doing here is of fundamental importance to the whole future, not just of Iraq, but of the wider region and the wider world. And if we don't sort this region out, then there is in my view a very troubled and difficult future for the world ahead of us."

Basra

3. Pan to close up of British Prime Minister, Tony Blair

4. Close up of soldier

5. Blair at table with troops (++PART MUTE++)

Baghdad

6. Blair greeted by Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki

7. Zoom-in to Blair and al-Maliki holding talks

8. Pan from Blair to al-Maliki in talks

9. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and al-Maliki walking towards news conference

Baghdad

10. Blair, al-Maliki and Talabani entering news conference

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:

"I have no doubt at all that Britain will remain steadfast in its support for Iraq, for the Iraqi people and for the Iraqi government as it tries to make sure that it overcomes the threat of terrorism and continues to make progress. The policy that I pursued is a policy for the whole of the government, so even when I leave office I am sure that that steadfast support will continue."

12. Cutaway of news conference

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jalal Talabani, Iraqi President

"If you look to all Iraq, the situation is improving. A place like Anbar is now mainly liberated from terrorism. In other places people are cooperating with security forces. Kurdistan is calm and quite secure. The south is also. So even if you look to the car bombs, which were used in Baghdad, the number was from 10-14 before now it is daily two or three. And if you look to Baghdad, the eastern part of Tigris is totally liberated from terrorist activities. And in the western part also many good steps have been done for the section and places."

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:

"Every time there is an attempt to make progress, of course the terrorists redouble their efforts and our response should not be then to walk away or to give in. It should be to stand up to them. Because they don't represent the true will of the Iraqi people, these people do (indicating Talabani and al-Maliki). They were elected. You can't just write them out of the picture and say they don't have a voice."

(Journalist: I am not writing them out of the picture.)

"Hang on a minute. Let's just wait and see today, when he talks on behalf of Iraq and when he talks on behalf of Iraq (indicating Talabani and al-Maliki) how much that is covered as having some authentic voice of what is actually happening here. Because these guys are facing this danger every single day all the time. But they are not giving in in the face of it, they are standing up to it. And we should be standing up to it."

15. Cutaway of news conference

16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi Prime Minister:

"If people only knew the extent of the support (the insurgents were receiving from forces outside of Iraq) they would know just how much the Iraqi government has achieved in curbing the insurgency and rising up to the challenge of cutting off support given to terrorists both internally and externally. What they (insurgents) are doing now is nothing compared to what they had planned for the destruction of the political process in Iraq."

Baghdad

17. Cutaway of news conference

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:

"The only choice we can make if we're serious about what we believe in is too support them against those who want violence and terrorism to decide the future.

(Journalist: So, no regrets then about removing Saddam?)

"No regrets about removing Saddam, no."

Baghdad

19. Blair, al-Maliki and Talabani leave news conference

The outgoing British prime minister Tony Blair told British troops at their base in Basra, Southern Iraq, on Saturday that they were doing a vital job for the region and the world, while separately a large explosion is heard during his visit.

"What you are doing here is of fundamental importance to the whole future, not just of Iraq, but of the wider region and the wider world," he said, adding : "if we don't sort this region out, then there is, in my view, a very troubled and difficult future for the world ahead of us."

Almost as he arrived, the base trembled from a large explosion nearby, thought to be an insurgent attack.

It was Blair's seventh visit to Iraq, probably the last of his premiership, and it started with top-level talks with the government in Baghdad, where he was hoping to persuade them to call new provincial elections with increased efforts to bring those linked to violence into the political process.

After meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the two leaders, along with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, attended a news conference in Baghdad.

Blair said he told al-Maliki and Talabani that Britain would continue to support them after he left office in June, and he urged them to speed up reconciliation between Iraq's divided communities by calling new provincial elections and increasing efforts to bring tribal leaders and others linked to violence into the political process.

"I have no doubt at all that Britain will remain steadfast in its support for Iraq," Blair told reporters at the news conference.

"The policy that I pursued is a policy for the whole of the government, so even when I leave office I am sure that that steadfast support will continue," he said.

Blair appeared irritated at repeated news conference questions about levels of violence, saying Iraqi officials had assured him in talks that there were signs of progress on security.

Blair insisted that the Iraqi insurgency does not "represent the true will of the Iraqi people, these people do (indicting Talabani and al-Maliki). They are elected. You can't just write them out of the picture and say they don't have a voice."

But Prime Minister al-Maliki said that journalists question the situation in Iraq simply because they do not know what is really going on in the country.

"If people only knew the extent of the support (the insurgents were receiving from forces outside of Iraq) they would know just how much the Iraqi government has achieved in curbing the insurgency and rising up to the challenge of cutting off support given to terrorists both internally and externally. What they (insurgents) are doing now is nothing compared to what they had planned for the destruction of the political process in Iraq," said al-Maliki following Blair's comments.

Blair also told reporters that he had "no regrets" about the removal of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

During his 45-minute meeting with al-Maliki, which Talabani joined after it was under way, the British leader injected a sense of urgency into attempts to increase political representation for Sunnis, Blair's spokesman said.

Blair did not win an agreement from the Iraqi leaders to hold new provincial elections, the spokesman said.

Blair had hoped provincial elections could take place in 2007 and that Sunni groups, who boycotted the last similar poll, would field candidates, the spokesman said.

Britain does not favour talks with foreign terrorists, the spokesman said, but would support moves to bring those whose violence was motivated by concerns about whether their community will have a place in the new Iraq into the political sphere.

Blair, whose premiership has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam, arrived in Iraq via Kuwait, following talks in Washington with President George W. Bush on Thursday.

Britain has almost completed the process of pulling about 1,600 troops out of Iraq, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of the southern city of Basra.

Troops levels are likely to fall below 5,000 in late summer, but Blair has said British soldiers will stay in the Basra region until at least 2008 to train local forces, patrol the Iran-Iraq border and secure supply routes.

A mounting military death toll - 148 British troops have died in Iraq since the start of the 2003 invasion - has led some Britons to call for Blair's successor, current Chancellor (finance minister) Gordon Brown to speed up the withdrawal of British soldiers and to cool relations with Bush.

Brown said last Sunday that Britain was divided over Iraq but claimed most citizens - even those opposed to the invasion - accepted that it is in their interests to support al-Maliki's administration.