Shia Muslims demonstrate outside the US-led meeting in Baghdad

UK Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien is attending a conference of Iraqi leaders to discuss the formation of an interim government for the country.

Mr O'Brien joins 300 eminent Iraqis who are in Baghdad to debate the country's political future.

He said it was the first of a series of similar consultation meetings which would lead to an Iraqi Government.

It follows an initial US-led meeting at Nasiriya which many of the country's Shia Muslims refused to attend.

Initial reports suggest they are boycotting the Baghdad meeting as well.

Mr O'Brien said he hoped his involvement would give a "clear signal of the British Government's commitment to the Iraqi people".

"We and our coalition partners want as soon as possible to see Iraq run for Iraqis by Iraqis.

I hope Iraqi women will be able to participate in this political process Mike O'Brien Where are chemical weapons?

"I hope very much that this meeting will bring together an even broader range of Iraqi participants than at Nasiriya - including opposition exile groups and those newly liberated.

"I hope Iraqi women will increasingly be able to participate in this political process."

The meeting was opened on Monday by Jay Garner, the retired US general in charge of Iraq.

He said the conference was aimed at "a democratic government which represents all people, all religions, all tribes".

The meeting is designed to lead to the establishment of the Iraqi Interim Authority.

It will build on 13 points agreed at Nasiriya, including that Iraq should be democratic and that a future government should be organized as a democratic federal system, but on the basis of countrywide consultation.