David Cameron will consider a recall of Parliament when he returns to No 10 later to deal with the crisis in Syria.
He has cut short a holiday in Cornwall to co-ordinate a response to what the UK and US believe was a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime.
MPs from all parties have demanded they be consulted before any move to support military action is taken.
The suspected chemical attack took place on Wednesday near Damascus, and reportedly killed more than 300 people.
Syrian rebels say the regime carried out a chemical attack, but the government blames rebel forces - saying footage of the attack was "fabricated".
Mr Cameron is to chair a meeting of the National Security Council - attended by military and intelligence chiefs and senior ministers - on Wednesday to discuss potential responses.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, meanwhile, has cancelled a visit to Afghanistan.
Analysis
Whitehall officials say no firm decision is likely to be taken on how Britain will respond to last week's alleged chemical attack in Syria until at least Wednesday.
That is when David Cameron will be chairing a session of the National Security Council, attended by military and intelligence chiefs and senior ministers. It follows intense consultations between London and Washington, with Downing Street keen to stress the two countries are acting in concert.
Any military response, if it's decided on, is most likely to be confined to a one-off or limited guided missile strikes on selected Syrian military targets using Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from US Navy warships stationed hundreds of miles away in the eastern Mediterranean.
US vessels there are reported to have about 400 such missiles onboard, while a Royal Navy submarine in the region can also carry cruise missiles.
But Russia, Syria and Iran have all issued strong warnings against any Western military action.
The Labour Party and several Conservative MPs have insisted the government must explain the objectives and legal basis for military action to Parliament before it happens.
Although the Commons voted on UK military intervention in Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011, there is no legal obligation for the government to get parliamentary approval before committing British forces.
The prime minister has the final say on deploying British troops in conflicts, using Royal Prerogative powers.
'Blank cheque'Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said it was right to consider all options but he was "not prepared to write the government a blank cheque" with regards to committing British forces.
He told BBC Breakfast the prime minister needed to bring Parliament back and set out his strategic objectives for any military action in Syria and MPs should be allowed to vote on this.
"Is it a broad objective of changing the civil war or trying to remove (President) Bashar al-Assad or is it a more limited objective of trying to degrade his capability to use these weapons with impunity?"
Downing Street said the government would decide "whether the timetable for our response means it will be necessary to recall MPs sooner than Monday", when they had been due to return to Westminster from their summer break.
More than 60 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling for the House of Commons to be recalled later this week.
Conservative MP Adam Holloway said Parliament must be consulted but he doubted whether MPs would sanction any military action, since intervention was not in the UK's national security interest and would be "pure foolishness".
"We must have a clear purpose to any military intervention," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme. "It was ever thus."
The situation in Syria was not "clear cut", he added, and there were "appalling things going on on both sides."
'Firm response'"Start Quote
End Quote Paul Flynn Labour MPIt could easily turn into a regional war with Lebanon, Israel and all the surrounding nations in this and then possibly a world war with China and Russia"
It is understood the most likely military response to Wednesday's suspected chemical weapons attack would be a one-off or limited guided missile strikes on Syrian military targets fired from US Navy warships.
Mr Cameron has spoken to a number of foreign leaders over the bank holiday weekend, including US President Barack Obama and his French and German counterparts.
The prime minister and Mr Obama agreed the need for a "firm response" from the international community to the attack.
Downing Street said Mr Cameron had used a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to tell him there was "little doubt" a chemical weapons attack had been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
But Mr Putin told him they had no evidence an attack had taken place or who was responsible, it said.
'Fabricated' footageRussia, a key ally of Syria, has warned any intervention without a UN mandate would be "a grave violation of international law".
The UN Security Council is made up of 15 states, including five permanent members - China, Russia, France, the US and the UK - who have the power to veto any resolution.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has told the BBC it would be possible for the UK and its allies to respond without the UN's unanimous backing.
But Labour MP Paul Flynn warned that hasty action could see the conflict spread beyond Syria's borders.
"We have a very bitter, bloody civil war," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"It could easily turn into a regional war with Lebanon, Israel and all the surrounding nations in this and then possibly a world war with China and Russia."
UN chemical weapons inspectors visited five sites around Damascus on Monday.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Tony Blair has warned enduring controversy over the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 should not stop politicians from helping the Syrian people.
Avoiding military intervention could result in "a nightmare scenario" for the West in the Middle East, he wrote in the Times.
- 01:15: 21 August (10:15 GMT 20 Aug): Facebook pages of Syrian opposition report heavy fighting in rebel-held eastern districts of the Ghouta, the agricultural belt around Damascus
- 02:45: Opposition posts Facebook report of "chemical shelling" in Ein Tarma area of the Ghouta
- 02:47: Second opposition report says chemical weapons used in Zamalka area of the Ghouta
- Unverified video footage shows people being treated on pavements in the dark and in a makeshift hospital
- Reports say chemical weapons were used in Ghouta towns of Irbin, Jobar, Zamalka and Ein Tarma as well as in Muadhamiya to the west, but this is not confirmed
- Syrian government acknowledges military offensive in the Ghouta but denies chemical weapons use
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