Parliament Backs Thatcher on Gulf

LONDON — Britain’s Parliament on Friday strongly backed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s dispatch of forces to the Persian Gulf and her refusal to rule out military action against Iraq.

At the end of a two-day emergency debate, the House of Commons supported government policy by a vote of 437 to 35, far higher than the 100-seat majority Thatcher’s Conservatives normally command in the 650-member chamber.

Britain was the first country to commit forces to back the U.S. military buildup in the gulf after Iraq’s Aug. 2 seizure of Kuwait.

Britain has sent three squadrons of fighter-bomber aircraft, a destroyer and two frigates to the area. A second destroyer and three minesweepers are also on their way. Officials said a further commitment would almost certainly be ground troops.