The quickening pace of Mr Blair's Middle East diplomacy will see the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, in London for talks later today.
Ahead of their meeting the Prime Minister spoke of creating "a security bridge" into the next stage of the peace process involving "serious" dialogue between Mr Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon.
However, Mr Blair's continuing push to persuade the Muslim world that a settlement for Palestine is integral to the assault on world terror coincided with reports that US investigators, and "hawks" in the US administration, suspect an Iraqi link to outbreaks of anthrax in Florida and New York, bearing the hallmarks of a possible terrorist attack.
As Osama bin Laden threatened fresh attacks on British and US targets - and with Britain's 30,000 GPs placed on "anthrax alert" - there was nervousness in Whitehall at signs of renewed Pentagon pressure to extend military action beyond Afghanistan.
Mr Robin Cook, leader of the Commons, insisted the allies were not "secretly plotting" to attack anyone other than the Taliban regime and bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
And he appeared to confirm British resistance to extending military action to include Iraq, telling the BBC: "I would say myself at the present time it would be quite wrong for us to open another front."
Mr Cook's fellow war cabinet member, Ms Clare Short, earlier demanded that the bombing of Afghanistan be "brought to an elegant end as quickly as possible". Reflecting her continuing unease, Ms Short suggested that the gathering of key ministers should not even be called "a war cabinet"; described military action as "only a small part of the strategy"; and declared "the real endgame is a new, inclusive government for Afghanistan".
Like Ms Short, Mr Cook dismissed the prospect of "a mass invasion" of Afghanistan by allied troops.
However, his opposition to opening up another front "at the present time" left the official door open for the possible redefinition of "war aims" - as the Prime Minister did in a newspaper interview yesterday.
Again ruling out a "wider war" as part of the initial response to the events of September 11th, Mr Blair said the "next phase" - against international terrorism in all its forms - was "something we have to discuss with our (coalition) partners".
Mr Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National Party's MPs at Westminster, said the British government should publish its "war aims" document and clarify its position on the possible expansion of military action in a second or subsequent phases of the allied assault on terror.
Clarification was "absolutely vital", he said, "because any expansion of military action could wreck the international coalition".