PREMIUM --

Former Labour MP Tony Benn checks in at Heathrow Airport in London Thursday 30 January 2003 for his flight to Baghdad where he hopes to meet Saddam Hussein to "explore the alternatives to war". Mr Benn said that he was trying to "hype the whole thing down", that he was paying his own fare and hotel bills and did not want to say much about his visit in case the meeting did not in the end materialise.