Two British soldiers died Tuesday, killed by insurgents who ambushed a British army convoy near the southern city of Basra, bringing the total killed in Iraq to 67.
Blair paid tribute to the two soldiers and expressed solidarity with Bigley.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair makes his keynote speech to the governing Labour Party conference in Brighton, England, on Tuesday.
(Kirsty Wrigglesworth - PA)
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"They are in our thoughts and prayers," he said.
Anger over the war among some Labour members was evident. One delegate, who later identified himself as Hector Christie, shouted at Blair from the conference floor: "You've got blood on your hands," before being led away.
Most hecklers were protesting the Iraq war, but one, Tom Leek, said he was angered by the government's attempts to ban fox hunting. Several thousand hunting enthusiasts rallied outside the conference hall as Blair spoke.
Many Labour members dislike Blair's close relationship with President Bush, a man portrayed in some British newspaper cartoons as a dumb Texan cowboy.
Blair said he knew some thought he was "just pandering to George Bush and what's more, in a cause that's irrelevant to us."
But he defended Britain's strong alliance with Washington, and said without the United States, efforts to tackle poverty in Africa, AIDS, global warming and the Middle East conflict, would founder.
Blair said following U.S. presidential elections in November, he would make the revival of the Middle East peace process a "personal priority."
"Two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in an enduring peace would do more to defeat this terrorism than bullets alone can ever do," he added.
