BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Political squabbling in Iraq's parliament threatened on Tuesday to further hold up a measure needed by December 31 to permit troops from Britain, Australia and a handful of other countries to remain in Iraq next year.

Deputies were expected to meet in a special session in the afternoon to discuss it, and also the fate of parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who some lawmakers are demanding be ousted, said Fouad Masoum, a leading Kurdish politician.
But the debate on foreign troops could be overtaken for a second day by the storm surrounding Mashhadani, whose crude language and insults during a session last week infuriated some Kurdish and Shi'ite deputies.
The row over Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab physician who in 2006 emerged from nowhere to head the young Iraqi parliament, has frozen progress on a measure authorizing the Iraqi government to cement an agreement governing the presence of troops from Britain, Australia, El Salvador, Romania and Estonia and NATO.
Those forces are awaiting the new arrangement to legalize their presence in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires on December 31.
On Saturday, parliament rejected a draft law that would have allowed them to conduct combat operations through May next year and to remain in Iraq through July.
Deputies argued that, rather than legislation, a treaty or agreement was needed, similar in format to a U.S.-Iraqi deal that allows the 140,000 troops in Iraq to remain until 2011.
On Monday, a vote on such a measure was abandoned amid calls for Mashhadani's ousting and the speaker's retaliatory decision to suspend regular sessions until January 7.
Politicians say they may approve an interim measure allowing foreign forces to stay until a proper agreement is concluded.
Britain, the United States' main ally in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, has only about 4,100 troops left in Iraq, mostly around the southern oil port city of Basra.
Basra, like most of Iraq, has become a much safer place in the past year as violent attacks drop sharply.
With just over a week left before a U.N. mandate runs out, a British military spokesman said that officials were making ""sensible contingency plans,"" but declined to give details.
""We take the safety of our soldiers seriously.""
One British official in Iraq, who requested anonymity, suggested that even if no arrangement can be had by year's end, major changes might not occur overnight.
""It has been suggested to me that it's unlikely you'll see British troops shooting out of here on December 31,"" he said.