WASHINGTON -- If you are a campaigner for British entry into Europe's single currency, it's probably time to start looking for another cause to fight for.

A run of events in the past couple of weeks, both in Britain and continental Europe, look to have put paid to any lingering hopes that europhiles may have had that Britain would scrap the pound within the year.

The issue spilled over at a meeting of top financial officials from the Group of Seven leading economies this weekend. The head of the European Central Bank lambasted some members of the 12-country euro zone, including its two biggest economies Germany and France, for their yawning budget deficits -- hardly the best advertisement for signing up to the euro.

And as Britain's ruling Labour Party prepares for next week's annual party conference, which the pro-euro camp has long said would be the launch-pad for the government's campaign to convince a skeptical public of the virtues of the new currency, the issue could not be further from the agenda, Reuters reported.

The conference, in the northern English city of Blackpool, looks set to be dominated by the possibility of war against Iraq and by a row over using the private sector to rebuild crumbling public services.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is committed in principle to euro entry if it is in Britain's economic interest and, crucially, if Britons approve it in a referendum.

Blair said on Sunday the prospect of action against Iraq would have no impact on his decision on holding a referendum on the euro single currency.

Blair sounded an upbeat note on the prospect of joining the euro, and dismissed suggestions that he had effectively written off the chances of a euro referendum before the next general election in Britain -- due by June 2006.

"Certainly not. No, absolutely not. We have a policy that is very clear -- if the economic tests are passed we will do it," Blair told BBC television. Using some distinctly positive language on the subject of the euro, Blair said this was the time for the government "to have the courage of our convictions and push forward."

Blair favors the euro in principle but says his government's five economic tests must be passed to show that joining would be in the national interest.

He has promised to put the question to Britons in a referendum if and when he decides the tests have been met. He says he will make an assessment of the tests by June 2003.

"I think it is very, very important for Britain to be right at the center of Europe -- I have always said that," Blair said. "But joining the single currency must be done on the basis that it is in our national interests."

Blair was asked whether he agreed that if there was a war against Iraq, he could not hold a euro referendum at the same time.

"I have never quite understood that," he replied. "You do whatever is right, whether it is on the single currency, on Iraq or on public services."

"There are very important economic decisions that will be taken in Europe in the next two or three years, and it is important for us to have influence in those key economic decisions," he told the ******observer***** newspaper. "Britain has got the ability and weight and the influence to be a key player in Europe," he added. "Our psychology towards Europe has to change."

But if Blair is to take Britain into the euro, he has an uphill struggle ahead of him because opinion polls show a majority of Britons are opposed to joining the euro.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has promised that the Treasury will assess its famous "five tests", including an assessment of whether the British and euro zone economies are running in synch, by June next year.

If the tests are positive, the argument goes, the government would need to hold a referendum by autumn next year in order to complete the lengthy process of euro entry before the next general election, due by mid-2006.

Pro-euro campaigners, convinced that Blair was determined to take Britain into the single currency and cement the country's place at the heart of the euro zone, thought this autumn would be seeing the government kick off a campaign to try and convince a skeptical public.