Launching military action against Iraq would be against the will of the British people, the Stop The War Coalition has claimed.

At its national conference in London the campaign group warned the US and British governments that it would not rest until the prospect of bloodshed had been averted.

Labour MP George Galloway said Britain was the key battleground over the decision of whether to wage war, and it was time to "cut the umbilical cord which seems to connect Mr Blair and Mr Bush".

The group, which plans a mass rally on 15 February, held its conference as the Royal Navy flagship, the Ark Royal, prepared to lead the largest British task force assembled in 20 years to the Gulf.

Mr Galloway told around 100 delegates that the Stop The War Coalition was winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the British people and changing the stance of those in Westminster.

Fighting terrorism with terror exacerbates the problem Stop the War Coalition

He said: "We are winning this argument in these islands and we should be proud of the role which we have played and determine that we will not rest until victory is ours."

Mr Galloway said the organisation had come a long way since it was set up 16 months ago, when its supporters "could have fitted into a telephone box".

The 15 February protest - which organisers hope will attract 200,000 people - would be a crucial staging post in the organisation's history, he argued, concluding: "We can stop the war."

'Great crisis'

Other key speakers at the conference included Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Benn and former Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella, who is now head of the Cairo Group of Middle Eastern anti-war campaigners.

George Galloway said Westminster was changing its stance

Andrew Murray, chairman of the coalition, told delegates they were meeting at a time of "great crisis" in the international community and British history.

He said that war in Iraq would be the result of an "exercise of imperial power" and was not about whether Saddam Hussein's regime had weapons of mass destruction.

The whole of the Middle East would be destabilised by a war which could see 10,000 civilian deaths, Mr Murray added.

A statement from the coalition said: "Violence is never the answer.

"Fighting terrorism with terror exacerbates the problem."