Mr Tony Blair has summoned a special meeting of the cabinet for this evening as Britain continues the countdown to expected military engagement in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said no particular significance should be attached to the 5 p.m. Downing Street session - casting it as "purely logistical" in the context of Mr Blair's briefing of Opposition leaders and key Commons committees earlier this week and the decision to recall parliament for a day next Thursday.
However, as the military build-up continued in the Gulf - and with a heavy political focus falling on the developing refugee crisis - British newspapers and broadcasters were urged yesterday to minimise speculation about possible military action against terrorist networks.
The D-Notice Committee, which warns the media about information which if disclosed could be damaging to national security, stressed the need for editors to exercise care in coming days and months. In a letter to them the committee secretary, Rear Admiral Nick Wilkinson, said: "As the next phase of military and intelligence planning and action now gets under way, here and in other countries co-operating against this particular terrorism, informed speculation may become very close to the truth."
He continued: "It would be operationally very helpful therefore, and a reassurance to those who may be going into action in the coming days or months, if editors could now minimise such speculation, whether by their own journalists or by retired military people, and if even greater care could be exercised in considering information which could be of use to the terrorists and their supporters."
The caution came as the Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, echoed American forecasts that there would be no single or simple military solution to the global terrorist threat. Speaking after NATO talks in Brussels, Mr Hoon insisted the Americans had as yet made no specific decisions.
Anti-war demonstrators are now expected to swell the ranks of an anti-capitalist demonstration at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on Sunday. The format for the reduced conference is being redrawn to provide platform opportunities for all the key ministers involved in the developing international situation, including the Home, Defence and Foreign Secretaries and the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown.
The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, joined forces with Mr Hoon yesterday in an attempt to curb mounting public alarm about the possibility of a chemical attack on Britain. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, repeated his "no blank cheque" warning to Mr Blair and President Bush. "There may well have to be a military response," he said: "But that response should be based on international law and clear intelligence," he said.