BRITAIN: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, flew back from the Camp David summit yesterday for his annual September audience of Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral.
Mr Blair was expected to brief the monarch on developing US/UK plans for action over Iraq, amid some speculation that she might exercise her constitutional right to caution her Prime Minister on the need to bring British public opinion behind any campaign against the Iraqi regime.
There is no question of any public rift between Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street over renewed Anglo-American determination to resolve the issue of President Saddam Hussein's development of weapons of mass destruction. However, the Mail on Sunday quoted a palace spokeswoman describing the meeting with what seemed unusual candour. Their talks would be "very full and open", she said, adding that the queen would be able to "offer a wider perspective" based on her experience of previous conflicts. The newspaper interpreted this as a diplomatic signal of palace concern that Mr Blair might be "turning a deaf ear to his own people" - 71 per cent of whom told ICM last week they were against war without the approval of the United Nations.
Mr Blair's bid to change the public mood enters its second phase this week, with a speech to the TUC Congress tomorrow and a pledge to consult senior MPs - including members of the Commons Defence and Foreign Affairs committees - in the coming weeks.
Despite the quickening pace of US/UK diplomacy, however, Number 10 still shows no sign of bowing to renewed calls for the immediate recall of parliament. The "Father" of the Commons, Mr Tam Dalyell, repeated his demand yesterday, again insisting the US should know "the diversity of opinion" within the British Parliament. He was backed by the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, although he admitted he was "not hopeful" MPs would be given the opportunity to debate the issue before the party conference season gets under way.
There is a growing belief that Downing Street will want to release its eagerly awaited dossier of "evidence" against President Saddam ahead of the Labour conference, which begins on September 30th. However, the Conservative conference follows a week later, ending on 10 October - the date pencilled in for Mr Blair's planned trip to meet Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
As the Scottish National Party's parliamentary leader, Mr Alex Salmond, warned it would be "folly" to launch a war without UN sanction, senior Labour MPs again declared themselves far from convinced of the case for pre-emptive military action. Mr Donald Anderson MP, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: "We need clearly to have far greater evidence in relation to the existing threat." And former foreign office minister, Mr Tony Lloyd, said he, like many Labour MPs and millions of British people were "a long way from being convinced".
However, in an encouragement to Downing Street, Mr Lloyd said it was "a very important step forward" that Mr Blair appeared to be successfully persuading Americans against taking unilateral action.
There was outrage, meanwhile, at news that extreme Muslims plan to meet in London on Wednesday to celebrate the anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US.
MI5 is believed to have a number of extremist suspects under round-the-clock surveillance amid heightened security across the country ahead of the anniversary.