Alistair Stewart will return to ITV News in the event of war with Iraq, reports BBC News Online.

The presenter has been away from mainstream news presenting on ITV1 since Trevor McDonald took over from him on News At Ten in 1992. Since then Stewart has presented regional bulletin London Tonight and worked Sunday mornings for GMTV.

If war breaks out, he will take up a role on the network's digital news channel, the ITV News Channel. Speaking today, he said he took up the job after discussions with Steve Anderson, ITV's head of news and current affairs, and ITV news editor David Mannion.

"I've been able to win the generous support of my employers at LNN that in the event of a war I will certainly be doing stuff at ITN on the News Channel. I'm absolutely thrilled to bits," he said.

"I will also carry on presenting a reduced London Tonight - if there's a war, regional news bulletins will diminish. The attraction in them for me is simply that I was there 12 years ago in war one."