Brown hails US ties before talks with Bush

London, July 29: Britain's new leader Gordon Brown stamped on talk of cooler relations with Washington, saying before his first meeting with President George W Bush that the bond between the countries remained strong.

Brown flies to the United States today for his first meeting with Bush since he succeeded Tony Blair as British prime minister a month ago.

Some of Brown's ministerial appointments and a comment by one of Brown's ministers that Brown and Bush were unlikely to be ''joined together at the hip'' have fuelled speculation that the cosy relationship Bush had with Blair would change under Brown.

Blair was Bush's closest ally in the invasion of Iraq, but Brown is well aware that the war's unpopularity in Britain was one of the factors that forced Blair to step down early in June after a decade in power.

Brown, who was Blair's finance minister, said in a statement released before his trip that ties with the United States should be Britain's ''single most important bilateral relationship''.

''It is a relationship that is founded on our common values of liberty, opportunity and the dignity of the individual. And because of the values we share, the relationship with the United States is not only strong but can become stronger in the years ahead,'' he said yesterday.

None of the world's major problems could be solved without the active engagement of the United States, Brown said.

''We will continue to work very closely together as friends to tackle the great global challenges of the future,'' he said, adding that the relationship between a US president and a British prime minister would always be strong.

United Nations

Brown will hold talks with Bush at Camp David before travelling to New York for a meeting with United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Brown will also give a speech at the United Nations.

Brown's office said talks with Bush would cover the Middle East peace process, the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, climate change and how to reinvigorate global trade liberalisation talks.

While Brown and Bush will stress London and Washington's ''special relationship'' is alive and well, political analysts say the reserved, sometimes awkward Brown is unlikely to enjoy the same close relationship with the US president that Blair had.

Brown will want to avoid the ''Bush's poodle'' tag that Blair was sometimes labelled with by the British press, particularly after the US president greeted him with ''Yo, Blair'' at an international conference last year.

Brown regularly holidays in the United States and is a keen reader of books on US politics and economics.

He has said Britain will abide by its UN obligations in Iraq and there will be no immediate withdrawal of British troops, as some in the ruling Labour Party want.

On Iran, Brown said this week he would not rule out military action but believed sanctions could still persuade Tehran to drop its disputed nuclear programme.

Reuters>