The British Prime Minister remains defiantly optimistic that Britain and the United States will win a second UN resolution sanctioning military action against Iraq.
Meanwhile, there was no lessening of British preparations for likely war last night, despite an opinion poll showing Mr Tony Blair's position on Iraq taking Labour's support to its lowest level for more than 10 years.
As the British Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, flew for talks with his opposite numbers in Washington, Downing Street sources said Mr Blair was unperturbed by the latest evidence that his close alliance with President Bush was causing him political damage at home, especially among women voters.
They are drawing comfort from the same survey finding that, while nearly nine out of 10 British voters share the Franco/German/ Russian view that UN weapons inspectors should be given more time to complete their task, the overwhelming majority believes Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.
One aide said: "They know that Saddam's not going to comply [with the UN resolutions] but they want to postpone the evil hour."
Number 10 does not expect a conclusive report either way from Dr Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, when he reports again to the UN Security Council on Friday and acknowledges that "the battle for the second resolution begins immediately after that". However the talk is still of securing a resolution within a two- week period, with heavy focus on resolution 1441's requirement that Iraq should fully comply with the inspectors "immediately".
While admitting that a combined Franco/Russian No to military action would make life more difficult for Mr Blair, the expectation in Whitehall remains that one or other, or both, will finally fall in behind US-led action.
However, with Mr Blair forced to play a waiting game pending Dr Blix's further report to the Security Council, the Prime Minister is likely to come under renewed pressure from Labour MPs during question time in the Commons later today about the current rift between America and Europe, and within Europe, over the case for military action.
Labour Europhiles are horrified at the likely implications of Washington's war of words with "Old Europe" on proposals for common EU defence and foreign policies and the implications for a British referendum on membership on the euro, which most commentators appear convinced is off the Downing Street agenda for the remainder of this parliament.
Anti-war Labour MPs suffered further embarrassment and angst last night as Mr Michael Portillo - the former Conservative defence minister whose personal defeat became symbolic of Labour's 1997 election landslide - praised Mr Blair for his "courageous" leadership over Iraq.
Mr Portillo said Mr Blair had carved out a new political persona as a "hard-edged" politician who "tells it like it is", which the former minister and failed Conservative leadership candidate found "very, very attractive".
Pressed about the continuing fall in Mr Blair's personal ratings as a result of his tough stance on Iraq, Downing Street sources said it simply underlined the point that Mr Blair was acting out of "conviction".
Reflecting Britain's forward march to decision-time for the UN, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, warned that Franco/ German proposals for the deployment of more weapons inspectors in Iraq were simply "a recipe for procrastination and delay".