(CBS) British Prime Minister Tony Blair will defend his Iraq policy in a key speech on Tuesday and brand President Saddam Hussein "an international outlaw," as demands grow for parliament to be recalled over Iraq.

Blair, fresh from a U.S. visit where he gave firm support to President Bush's call for action against the Iraqi leader, will make his keynote speech to hard-line union critics in the northern English seaside resort of Blackpool.

Pressure for parliament to be recalled from its Summer recess mounted on Tuesday when a member of Blair's own Labor Party made an almost unheard-of bid to hire the House of Commons for a debate on the subject in the absence of a formal recall.

The bid failed, but in a move which is likely to embarrass the prime minister, members of parliament might still meet informally in London next week to discuss the crisis.

Meanwhile, Bush administration officials working to build a case against Saddam Hussein reportedly have been unable to establish a direct link between the Iraqi leader and global terrorism

Citing senior intelligence officials and other sources, The Washington Post reported Tuesday the Central Intelligence Agency had yet to find convincing evidence of an Iraqi terror link despite redoubled efforts to collect and analyze information related to Iraq.

Blair is fighting to win over foreign allies to support the British and U.S. call for action, and is also seeking to assuage increasingly outspoken critics at home.

His address will pave the way for Mr. Bush's own major Iraq policy speech, which the president plans to deliver to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.

Blair's spokesman said the prime minister would describe Saddam as an "international outlaw."

"In the face of evidence that Saddam has chemical and biological weapons and evidence that he is continuing his efforts to develop nuclear weapons, we cannot stand by and do nothing," Blair will say.

"We should do everything we can to stop him using weapons he has and getting weapons he wants."

Iraq denies it is developing weapons of mass destruction.

According to the Washington Post report, analysts who have studied photographs, communications intercepts and information from informants concluded they could not validate allegations made by high-ranking U.S. officials of links between Saddam and al Qaeda members who would have taken refuge in northern Iraq.

Nor can the analysts confirm allegations of an April 2001 meeting in Prague between Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers and an Iraqi intelligence agent, it said.

"It's a thin reed," a senior intelligence official was quoted as saying in describing the information on both cases.

As a result of the CIA's conclusions, the Bush administration has accepted the notion that its stronger case against Iraq is Baghdad's pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, the Post said.

"At some point we will certainly make the case concerning Iraq and its links to terrorism," a senior administration official told the newspaper. "We still have to develop it more."

In his speech, Blair will also say the debate over what to do about Iraq has moved forward in recent weeks. There is now wider acceptance that Baghdad is seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction, he will say.

He will add that these concerns can only have been boosted by a report published on Monday by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which said Iraq could build a nuclear bomb within months with help from abroad.

Graham Allen, the Labor member of parliament who tried to hire the Commons for a debate on Iraq, said he feared the prime minister was ignoring the view of parliament.

"People are beginning to feel that something is being cooked up by the prime minister and President Bush — rightly or wrongly — and that parliament will come in at the very end," he told Sky News television.