Saddam's hanging on Decem-ber 30 sparked outrage among Sunni Muslims for taking place at the start of a key holiday and because of mobile phone video footage which showed he was taunted and mocked as he stood on the gallows.

"I've decided to talk about health today," Blair told reporters while touring a London heart hospital Friday, the day after returning from holidaying at the home of Bee Gees pop star Robin Gibb in Florida.

"I will talk about all those other issues next week but not today. I'll find a way to talk about it (Saddam's hanging) but not today. I want to concentrate on the NHS," the state-run National Health Service, Blair said.

Blair has come under fire from members of his own party for keeping mum on the manner of an execution that many fear will fuel the Sunni-Shiite violence gripping Iraq.

The prime minister has lost standing within his own party and across Britain for his government's decision to send troops in support of the March 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The day Saddam was hanged, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said he had been "held to account" while reiterating Britain's opposition to capital punishment.

Her comments came before leaked footage emerged showing the execution to be much more chaotic than the government coverage that was initially broadcast.

Blair's deputy John Prescott said Tuesday that the way Saddam was executed was "quite deplorable", admitting his remarks might stir controversy because they were stronger than Beckett's.

Saddam, 69, was hanged in Baghdad for crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 men and boys in the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982 after an attempt was made there to assassinate him.