Jacques Chirac flatly rejected pressure at yesterday's Anglo-French summit for early military action to disarm Saddam Hussein.

Describing war as "the worst of all options", the French president said that United Nations weapons inspectors should be given as much time as they needed to complete their work.

Standing next to the French leader at a press conference, Tony Blair said that a crucial date will be February 14 - when UN weapons inspectors deliver another report.

"We will make our judgments then," said the prime minister, adding: "We should take account of that very carefully."

The FT suggests yesterday's meeting was a "detente" rather than an "entente cordiale".

In an article in today's Times, Jack Straw says that calls for more time are futile so long as Saddam refuses to cooperate.

"We must not allow endless calls for more time to become a cop-out," the foreign secretary writes.

Britain and France did reach agreement, however, on more cooperation on asylum and a new £2.8 million language teaching scheme.