LONDON, March 9: British Prime Minister Tony Blair battled on Sunday to win world support for his tough stand on disarming Baghdad, as a resignation and mounting rebellion in his Labour government raised the stakes of his Iraq gamble.

Blair looked increasingly out on a limb as one Labour Party member of parliament announced his resignation over Iraq, and amid reports four more could quit and some 200 party lawmakers could rebel if Britain waged war without United Nations backing.

A new poll meanwhile showed that only 15 per cent of Britons backed an attack on Iraq without a second UN resolution.

Blair spoke to several world leaders at the weekend to drum up support for an amended resolution on Iraq tabled by Britain, the United States and Spain at the UN on Friday and intense diplomatic activity was set to continue in coming days.

But he faced an uphill struggle in his efforts to persuade UN Security Council members to vote for the new resolution, which sets a March 17 deadline for Iraq to disarm.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin told Blair over the telephone on Sunday that the crisis could be resolved politically and weapons inspections in Iraq should continue and be strengthened, China’s Xinhua news agency said.

China has a veto on the Security Council. Veto-holders France and Russia also oppose a resolution that would implicitly or explicitly authorise military action.

COUNTER-ATTACK: A second UN resolution would take a weight off Blair’s shoulders. Newspapers were awash on Sunday with reports of a Labour revolt over Iraq and Labour member of parliament (MP) Andrew Reed said he would resign.

As private secretary to Environment Minister Margaret Beckett, Reed is only the first rung on the government ladder but his resignation is an embarrassment for Blair.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said on Sunday that her private secretary Anne Campbell could follow Reed.

—Reuters