Brighton, England, SPA -- Prime Minister Tony Blair saidSunday he had not expected the ferocity of the insurgencyin Iraq, but insisted British troops would stay as long asthe Iraqi government needed them. As his governing Labour Party gathered for its annualconference, Blair said he had not set a deadline towithdraw some 8,500 British soldiers from Iraq. "There isno arbitrary date being set," he said, in an interviewwith the British Broadcasting Corp. Blair also insisted that two British soldiers who wererescued from an Iraqi jail last week would not be handedover to Iraqi authorities.--SPA1327 Local Time 1027 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/291951