BRITAIN will today accelerate the drive to war on Iraq with a “now-or-never” speech by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, in which he will warn of the dangers of delay.

The Times has also learnt that United Nations Security Council foreign ministers are considering convening in New York on or around March 7 to hold talks on seeking a second resolution to disarm Iraq.

A final round of international telephone diplomacy will get under way today as Tony Blair and President Bush attempt to secure support within the UN.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, dropped a heavy hint about Washington’s timetable yesterday when he told a Tokyo news conference that the UN should take vital decisions soon after the latest report by the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, on March 7.

“It isn’t going to be a long period of time from the tabling of the resolution until a judgment is made as to whether the resolution is ready to be voted on or not,” General Powell said.

In the most bellicose speech yet by a British minister, Mr Hoon will dismiss those who argue that open-ended inspections by UN weapons experts are the best way to meet the threat from Iraq and say that, if the international community fails to act, it will be condemned by future generations.

He is expected to acknowledge that giving Saddam time “without end” to get rid of weapons of mass destruction is far easier than military action. However, governments must not think in the short term, he will tell an audience of senior Kuwaiti military, politicians, academics and businessmen. “We will be condemned on a massive scale if we abdicate our responsibility.”

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and counterparts from the 14 Security Council members are making tentative plans to travel to New York to hear Dr Blix’s report.

One Security Council source said yesterday that the plan was for ministers to have a “hard discussion in anticipation of a vote in the following few days”. One diplomat said a foreign ministers’ meeting was “very much a possibility”.

In the latest round of diplomacy, characterised by Mr Blair’s aides as “a last push for peace”, the Prime Minister and President Bush will tell the 13 other Security Council members that the UN must assert itself.

Mr Blair yesterday telephoned the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and plans to speak to most other Security Council members this week. José María Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian leader, have also been enlisted.

A critical report by Dr Blix, who has posed a key test for Iraq by demanding that it begin destroying its banned Al Samoud 2 missiles by March 1, could strengthen London and Washington's hands.

Iraq said yesterday that it was seriously studying the request as it test-fired a rocket engine to show it did not violate range limits. General Husam Mohammad Amin, head of Iraqi weapons monitoring, said: “Destroying these missiles will affect our defence capabilities but would not completely terminate them.”

Britain and the United States plan to circulate a draft resolution as early as today. Britain hopes to muster support among waverers by pushing for a simple statement that Iraq had failed to take advantage of the “final opportunity” offered to it by Resolution 1441 in November but the US may take a tougher line.

John Major said that Saddam Hussein could try to create Armageddon if he is attacked. Mr Major, Prime Minister at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, said that there was a danger of the Iraqi President trying to drag the whole Middle East region into conflagration.

“It is a possibility that on this occasion he may use all his arsenal and he has many targets that he could use them on,” he told BBC1’s Breakfast with Frost.

“The purpose of that would be to try to draw Israel into the war in the hope that it would create a wider Arab coalition,” Mr Major said, adding that he broadly supported the stance taken by Britain and the US.

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