David Cameron and the Foreign Secretary William Hague today vowed not to send any troops to Iraq - despite the country descending into bloody anarchy.

Downing Street dismissed any notion of a military intervention. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said: 'We have been clear that we won't be getting involved in putting boots on the ground militarily in this situation.'

Foreign Secretary William Hague added: 'We are not planning a British military intervention.'

David Cameron and William Hague today both insisted there would be no British military involvement in Iraq

The intervention came after the US President Barack Obama refused to rule out ordering a bombing campaign - but said: 'We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq.'

Mr Hague said Britain might help the wobbling Iraqi Government with counter-terrorism expertise.

Speaking after talks on Iraq with US Secretary of State John Kerry in London, the Foreign Secretary added that a team from the Department for International Development was now on the ground in northern Iraq to see what humanitarian help the UK could give.

Mr Hague said: 'We are looking urgently at ways to help - for example with counter-terrorism expertise.

'Work is under way on that now and we will continue to liaise closely with our United States allies in particular on that.

'We will also continue to work urgently within the UN Security Council to help concert the wider international response.'

The Prime Minister meanwhile this morning held talks with the secretary general of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, about the crisis.

Militants from the al Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who earlier this week seized large areas of Iraq's Sunni heartland, including the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, have now captured two towns north-east of the capital Baghdad, local officials said.

Mr Hague said that the situation was 'extremely serious, but added that, while fighting continues, 'attacks have thankfully slowed in recent hours'.

He said that Britain had three priorities in Iraq: 'First of all to stabilise the situation. This is primarily the responsibility of the Iraqi security forces, working in co-operation with their civilian authorities, including the Kurdistan regional government.

'Secondly for Iraq's leaders to come together in a united response this brutal aggression against their country. That requires their leaders to find ways immediately to put aside their differences, however strongly felt, and act together against the terrorism which threatens them all.

'Third, the half a million or more displaced people in the north who have been forced to flee Mosul and the surrounding areas need urgent support so that the humanitarian situation does not deteriorate further.'

President Barack Obama rejected the prospect of boots on the ground at a speech from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington today

His remarks came before President Obama ended speculation that the US could send troops back into the country to halt the jihadists' advance.

He said he was considering a 'range of other options' - but not boots on the ground.

The President said: 'We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq’s security forces and I will be reviewing those options in the days ahead.

'I do want to be clear, though: this is not solely, or even primarily, a military challenge. Over the past decade, American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis an opportunity to claim their own future.

'Unfortunately Iraq’s leaders have been unable to overcome too often the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there and that’s created vulnerabilities within the Iraqi government as well as their security forces.