"I think it is quite dangerous in this kind of situation to set artificial deadlines. Things will go forward as it seems sensible and safe to do so," Beckett told the BBC.

"We have said for a long time that the British troops will stay there -- and the coalition troops will stay there -- while there is a job that needs to be done," she said in an interview.

Beckett, who replaced Jack Straw as Britain's top diplomat in a cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, insisted that progress was being made with the training of a new Iraqi army and police force to take control of security.

"As that progress is made and established, people will consider how we can withdraw," the minister said.

"But I would envisage that even when responsibility is handed over to those Iraqi forces they will probably want some outside support for quite a while."

Beckett's comments came one day after the new Iraqi government was finally formed -- a move seen as crucial to the exit plans for the US-led military.

Britain, which has the second largest deployment in Iraq after the United States, has some 8,000 soldiers largely in the south of the country.

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