Mr Blair will tell M Chirac that a failure of the UN to follow through its earlier demands would be disastrous for the organisation.

He told reporters at the weekend, on his way back to London after a meeting with President Bush, that the second resolution would itself be a trigger for war because its passage would mark the final judgment of the UN that Saddam was not complying with the weapons inspectors and was, therefore, in material breach of the resolutions.

Mr Blair hinted that there would be no final deadline, saying: “It is not an issue about deadlines, it is a judgment.”

He added: “The process, in a sense, ends once you have a second resolution which says that it is clear that Iraq is not complying with the UN’s will.”

He also said that he and Mr Bush had discussed both the contents of that resolution and the diplomatic efforts required to secure it.

Mr Blair will report to the Commons today on the meeting. Although M Chirac appears to be the biggest obstacle to a second resolution — as a permanent member of the Security Council, France has a veto — many believe that France will ultimately come on side, even though M Chirac is likely to try to make the most of his pivotal role.

“He loves being at the centre of attention, he loves being coaxed, but he is not a fool,” one British diplomat said.

Senior British officials say that M Chirac will not want to see the UN reduced to “League of Nations status”, the likely outcome if it fails to enforce its will.

They say that force is an integral part of the original Resolution 1441, that M Chirac will not want to be in direct opposition to an American President on course for a second term for long, and that he will want to have a big say in the post-Saddam Iraqi settlement. They also believe that he knows that he has already overplayed his hand, and that he was astonished that seven other European countries had lined up with Britain to support America last week.

Diplomats accept that it may be too much of a volte-face for M Chirac to change his position tomorrow. But they hope to see signs that he may move.

Mr Blair appeared satisfied with the outcome of the White House summit, describing reports of a row over the second resolution with Mr Bush as nonsense. “Wait and see what happens in the next few weeks,” he said.

At their joint press conference, Mr Bush had seemed lukewarm, saying that a second resolution would be welcome provided that it did not prolong deliberations for months and adding that it was not essential.

British officials said that it was the usual “hard cop, soft cop” routine, with Mr Bush determined not to show any weakness either to Saddam or M Chirac and Germany, or to hardliners in his own Administration, while Mr Blair smoothed the path to a deal.

However, some observers said that it did not appear to be an act but a display of the genuine differences between the two.

Mr Bush had the air of a man who had made up his mind long ago and was irritated at constantly being told, by Colin Powell, his own Secretary of State, as well as by Mr Blair that the second resolution was the way to keep world opinion on board.

“I was the guy who went to the UN,” Mr Bush said, reminding how he had eventually been persuaded to go down that road for the first resolution. His curmudgeonly attitude on Friday night may have been because he had reluctantly been persuaded to go along with a second resolution.

Mr Blair and his team had learnt before they boarded their aircraft home late on Friday that the British media had seized on Mr Bush’s apparent negative attitude towards a second resolution.

Even as the BA 777 climbed out of Andrews Air Force Base, Mr Blair went to the back of the aircraft to try to counter any impression that the meeting had not gone well.He said: “I believe there will be a second resolution and I think that it is important that we get this thing resolved one way or another.”

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