There is growing British support for the war in Iraq despite Mr Tony Blair's renewed warnings of "tough and difficult moments" to come ahead of victory.
Having promised the Iraqi people that the day of their freedom "draws near", Mr Blair returned to London from Washington yesterday and acknowledged that the Iraqis themselves would not rebel against Saddam Hussein until they were satisfied that the "thin but strong membrane" around him had been destroyed.
Hailing the emerging UN resolution on the resumption of the oil-for-food programme as a door opening to greater international agreement, Mr Blair told the BBC's Today programme it remained an absolute for him that the United Nations should have a central role in the reconstruction of a post-Saddam Iraq.
The Prime Minister again denied differences with the US about plans for the post-conflict administration of the country, saying it was emphatically not true that President Bush wanted to see Iraq run by a US military governor with the UN sidelined.
"I can absolutely assure you from the conversations I've had with him [President Bush] that his priority is to make sure the government of Iraq after Saddam is as broadly represented as possible," he said.
But with another 100,000 American troops headed for the Gulf, Mr Blair's immediate focus was on a war which the British public now accepts will last considerably longer than some forecasts had suggested.
While again stressing that much had been achieved in week one, Mr Blair said it was pointless to speculate on how long the conflict would endure, saying: "We can't be sure. What we can be sure of is that we will achieve the objective we set ourselves. Saddam and his regime will go and he will be disarmed of his weapons of mass destruction."
The latest You-Gov poll for the Daily Telegraph recorded growing support for the US-UK war effort, at 59 per cent, but with the proportion of those expecting the conflict to be over within a fortnight halved from 43 per cent earlier this week to 21 per cent.
The survey also recorded a sharp fall - from 84 to 73 per cent - in the numbers of those thinking the war was going very or fairly well. Significantly, too, the poll again confirmed a British public seemingly hearing and approving Mr Blair's determination on UN re-engagement in the post-conflict situation.
Just 3 per cent said the Americans should provide an administration until a new Iraqi government could take over, as against 63 per cent saying the UN should run Iraq immediately after the war.
The British government last night expressed its regrets for any distress caused to the families of two British soldiers who Mr Blair suggested had been executed. The family of one of the men, Sapper Luke Allsopp, had reacted angrily to the claim, saying they had been officially informed that he and Staff Sgt Simon Cullingworth had been killed in action after an ambush on their vehicle in southern Iraq.