Prime Minister Tony Blair resumed his diplomatic offensive for action against Iraq Thursday after many members of his party revolted against his hardline policy. Blair was flying to Spain Thursday to meet Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose government has joined with Britain and the United States in proposing a second Security Council resolution that would declare that Saddam Hussein had failed to meet demands for disposing of weapons of mass destruction.

Aznar was in Paris Wednesday but failed to budge President Jacques Chirac from his opposition to a second resolution which could pave the way to war within weeks.

"We are opposed to all new resolutions," said Chirac, who is calling for inspectors to be given four more months.

On Wednesday, 122 lawmakers from Blair's Labor Party joined in voting for a motion which called the case for war "unproven." In all, 199 lawmakers voted for the amendment, though the government mustered 393 votes to easily defeat it.

The revolt in the party was the largest since Blair took power in 1997, and reflected deep divisions within the Labor Party and the country at large over the Iraq crisis.

"There is no question that as a result of this we will change policy," said Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien. "We are still in the business of trying to resolve this peacefully by putting pressure on Saddam."

In a television appearance Wednesday night, Blair acknowledged criticism of his policy from church leaders including Pope John Paul II.

"I don't pretend to have a monopoly of wisdom, and these situations are the most difficult any prime minister takes, but in the end the only thing you can do is do what you genuinely believe to be right," Blair said.

Under Britain's constitution, Blair doesn't need Parliament's backing to go to war, but the vote does expose the prime minister's vulnerability within his party.

There were warnings from some Labor lawmakers who voted with the government that their continued support depended on securing the second U.N. resolution backing military action.

The party may suffer a loss of support in local government elections if significant numbers of its supporters decide not to vote, or support parties such as the Liberal Democrats or the Welsh and Scottish nationalist parties which have opposed military action against Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to the House of Commons in this image from TV during Prime Ministers' Questions in London, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003. Speaking on Iraq Blair told the Commons he still believed a fresh U.N. resolution would be passed by the Security Council. At left is Britain's Minister for International Development Claire Short and at right Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. (AP Photo/House of Commons TV, via APT