Blair was upbeat as he faced reporters

During his monthly news conference Mr Blair acknowledged the media focus had been on Iraq but said that public services had been improving.

The prime minister also said Britain had a "moral responsibility" to deal with the crisis in Sudan.

But it was "premature" to say Britain was going to be sending troops.

Challenges

The news conference came amid speculation about an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle. Rumours of possible changes to the government line-up are swirling around the corridors at Westminster.

I believe we have a moral responsibility to deal with this and deal with it by any means we can Tony Blair UK undecided on troops to Sudan

They include claims that Peter Mandelson could return to the Cabinet or be Britain's new Euro commissioner.

Asked if Mr Mandelson, who has twice resigned from the Cabinet, was now fit again to hold high office, Mr Blair said questions about the Europe job would have to wait until the decision had been made.

He also said he had at no point considered moving on from his own job in his 10 years as Labour leader, arguing: "We've still got things to do... I want to see them through."

Earlier, opening the press conference, he said: "Without any doubt, this has been a testing time over the past few months but the government has come through it strengthened and renewed.

"There are big challenges ahead undoubtedly but I think we can look forward with renewed confidence and indeed some optimism that we are going to meet those challenges successfully."

Crime figures

Progress on improving public services was becoming "irreversible", the prime minister told reporters in No 10.

He spoke as new figures showed a 12% jump in violent crime in England and Wales over the past year, with a 1% rise in crime overall.

But the British Crime Survey - which the Home Office regards as more accurate - suggests that crime in general actually fell by 5%.

Mr Blair said there was "little doubt" that crime was falling, although there was a particular problem with alcohol-related violent crime.

Caveat concerns

He also faced reporters' questions on the Butler report, including about when he knew Iraq intelligence had been withdrawn.

MI6 withdrew reports about Iraq's weapons from one source last July - something Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was told last September.

But Downing Street says Mr Blair only learnt the news as a result of the Butler inquiry.

The prime minister said he discovered the intelligence had been withdrawn shortly before the Butler Report was published last week.

Asked whether the late government weapons expert Dr David Kelly had been involved in the intelligence being withdrawn, Mr Blair replied that he did not know what the answer to the question was, saying he would get someone to check for him.

Lord Butler's inquiry found much of the intelligence used to justify the war against Iraq to be unreliable.

He said there was no deliberate distortion of information but by removing caveats the government had made the intelligence appear "firmer and fuller" than it really was.

War sacrifice

Opposition parties say the prime minister's credibility is now at stake.

But Mr Blair insisted people should not lurch to the other extreme and think all the intelligence was wrong.

He was asked about demands from the families of troops killed in Iraq that he apologise over the war.

He expressed his deep sympathy for such families, but said: "I actually believe that they gave their lives in a case that is important for our security, for the security of the wider world."

The simplest way to test complaints about the way ministers presented the weapons intelligence was to examine the original reports from the Joint Intelligence Committee, said Mr Blair.

"The only conceivable conclusion would be that Saddam Hussein was a WMD threat," he said.

Troop action?

Mr Blair said the Sudan crisis was very serious and he had "ruled nothing out", but it was "premature" to say the UK was sending troops.

Some one million people have fled their homes and at least 10,000 people have been killed in Sudan, where pro-government Arab militias are accused of ethnic cleansing against the region's black African population.

"What we need to do in the short term is get the government of Sudan to take the measures necessary to control these militias," he said.

Action was also being taken to ensure aid reached those in need, said Mr Blair, who said he was having daily talks about the crisis.