Protests took place across the UK

The prime minister has been telephoning other world leaders from his country residence, Chequers, to prepare the ground for approval of the draft UN resolution.

Foreign secretary Jack Straw told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was asking member states to face up to their responsibilities.

It comes as a national newspaper poll suggests a majority of the British public believe military action must be used to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

However, the Stop the War coalition increased pressure on the government with demonstrations in Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Hertfordshire, West Sussex and south Wales.

Up to 10,000 people marched through Manchester in the biggest of the protests.

Labour MP George Galloway told BBC News "a lot more" than 10,000 had attended.

In pictures: War protests

He said: "This war has no friends. No one can understand the rush - the mad lust to get the fighting started, when the peaceful alternative is working."

Mr Galloway described the war as "mass murder" and said if it began people from across Britain would "pour onto the streets" to "do anything they can to show this crime is not being committed in their name".

"The children of Iraq are going to bed every night not knowing if this is going to be the night the dive bombers come to kill them and that is a terrible shame on our reputation," said the MP for Glasgow Kelvin.

MPs' opposition

Many Labour MPs want a Commons vote and warn of an even bigger rebellion than last week's - when over 120 Labour MPs voted against military action without a second resolution.

But the Commons may not get a vote before hostilities begin.

UK forces breakdown Quarter of the British Army 120 Challenger II tanks HMS Ark Royal, HMS Ocean and Naval task group Tornados, Jaguars and Harrier aircraft Click here for a guide to UK military deployment

Hundreds of MPs were now opposed to the war, Mr Galloway told BBC News, as well as "everyone from the Pope to Nelson Mandela to the Archbishop of Canterbury".

"That is why Mr Blair will dodge a vote - because he knows if we have one he will be dependent on Iain Duncan Smith.

"A Labour prime minister depending on the Tories to get a war through Parliament - it is an untenable position."

An ICM poll published in Sunday's News of the World suggests 69% of people back war with Iraq.

It is the first public poll to be published since Dr Hans Blix delivered his latest report to the UN in New York on Friday night and suggests just 22% now oppose military action.

Less than a fortnight ago, another ICM poll suggested 52% opposed military action in Iraq.

But 77% of those who support war against Iraq said there must be a second UN resolution.

The need for a second UN resolution is reinforced by the fact that just 15% of the public as a whole would support war without one.

Prayers for troops

The Tory leader has warned that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had the "means, the mentality and the motive" to attack Britain.

Speaking at the Welsh Tory conference, Mr Duncan Smith, who was in Kuwait last week, added British troops did not understand why the public was not backing them.

"As we stand on the threshold of war I say to our forces, the greatest in the world, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families."

Meanwhile, Chilean president Ricardo Lagos, whose country has a Security Council seat, has said the 17 March deadline is too short.

The only reason we have got any co-operation at all out of Iraq is because of the credible threat of force Jack Straw

But Mr Straw told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he believed the resolution would be passed.

Friday's Security Council meeting had been about making members "face up to the seriousness of the situation", he added.

"The only reason we have got any co-operation at all out of Iraq is because of the credible threat of force."