PM fights to quell growing rebellion over Iraq

Tony Blair will try today to head off a growing Labour rebellion over US-led military action by pledging that he will not abandon the UN route to resolving the Iraq crisis.

Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, broke cabinet ranks yesterday when she said the Government would not join a strike by America without UN backing. Ms Short said she was worried about the Iraq crisis and said that Britain would use its influence with the US to try to keep the UN process on track.

Ms Short's intervention came amid growing signs of dissent from Labour MPs fearful of rushing into war.

Mr Blair is expected to travel to Washington later this month for a "war cabinet" with President George Bush.

Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector, told the Security Council on Thursday that his inspectors had found "no smoking guns" in Iraq. The Pentagon, nevertheless, said it would have up to 150,000 troops in the Gulf ready for an attack in the second half of February. Since Friday, 62,000 extra military personnel have been ordered to the region.

Mr Blair is expected to try to persuade Mr Bush to give the weapons inspectors more time to complete their work. But he will also reiterate his determination to deal with Saddam Hussein and will keep the door open for a military strike if the UN inspection route fails.

Some of his cabinet allies, including Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, Hilary Armstrong, the Chief Whip, and Helen Liddell, the Scottish Secretary, have told Mr Blair he would face a revolt if he decided to support an American strike without UN backing. Donald Anderson, the chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, warned that MPs would rebel if action was taken without a second resolution.

Ms Short said she "absolutely" wanted a second UN resolution before a military strike. "There is a way through this. Stick with the UN. There's no other way out," she said on ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby programme. Asked if Britain would refuse to join the US if it took action without international support, she said: "That is the logic of the position."

Despite the military build-up, splits areemerging in the Bush administration about the timing of an attack. While hawks – led by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, and Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary – argue for speedy action, others say the US must wait for a genuine international coalition.

A report in The Washington Poston Saturday attributed to "senior US officials" the suggestion that the prospect of a February attack was receding, but the same officials were quoted yesterday as stressing how Washington saw 27 January, when Mr Blix is due to make his report, as "the beginning of a final phase".

Mr Blair is expected to try to calm disquiet among Labour MPs. Downing Street said he would use his monthly press conference today to "set out the case of where we are on Iraq". A YouGov poll found that 59 per cent of the public were not convinced President Saddam was dangerous enough to justify war. John Reid, the Labour Party chairman, said opinions in the party were similar to those among the public.