TONY Blair returned to the political scene today facing an "action-packed" month.

As MPs ended their New Year break, they were being targeted by government managers keen to head off the rebellion over student tuition fees.

On Thursday, Education Secretary Charles Clarke will publish details of the plans for university top up fees of up to £3,000 a year.

And backbenchers, who are threatening to vote against, will be watching carefully for any change of heart.

One rebel, West Midlands MP Peter Bradley, said today (Monday) that he thought the case was probably being won by the government.

"If you want to see improvements in higher education and broadening of access to university, tuition fees are inevitable," said Mr Bradley.

"But the problem of having variable fees is that they produce variable income for universities - and that's something I'm concerned about."

Mr Bradley claimed that the very universities which are increasing the number of students they take on could end up being disadvantaged by "two-tier" fees, while elite universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester would be "laughing all the way to the bank".

Another controversial subject facing the Prime Minister is the report of the Hutton Inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly, due to be published over the next fortnight.

Today, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said they faced an "action-packed" few weeks, with a new Tory leader and a lot of trouble within the Parliamentary Labour Party.

"I think politics is in a very fluid state in this country," said Mr Kennedy.

He was asked if he thought Mr Blair's job was safe - and said that no Premier's position was absolutely secure, since they were at the mercy of events. He added: "But I find it difficult, as things stand, to believe we are liable to see a change in the premiership.

"But we don't know what the Hutton report will say or what will happen over top up fees."

Mr Blair has been on holiday with his family in Egypt, but yesterday he made a surprise visit to Iraq to thank British troops for their part in toppling dictator Saddam Hussein.

He told UK troops in Basra that they had fought in a "noble and good cause".

And in an apparent message to other "rogue" states, such as North Korea, Mr Blair said that Iraq was a test case in how the global community could deal with repressive regimes.

Mr Blair's message is timed before the Hutton report, which is likely to be critical of the government's handling of weapons expert Dr Kelly, after he admitted being the source of a BBC story suggesting the arguments about the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been exaggerated to bolster the case for war.

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