Blair set for White House talks

BBC | July 28 2006

Tony Blair is flying to Washington for talks with President Bush on the crisis in the Middle East.
The meeting at the White House comes amid growing pressure for the UK and US to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

It also follows Cabinet anger at claims US planes used a Scottish airport to transport bombs to Israel.

After the White House, the PM will fly on to California to address executives at Rupert Murdoch's News International.

The prime minister first addressed the media group's annual conference in 1995, when he was in opposition.

'Standing by'

Mr Blair and Mr Bush have a packed agenda for their short meeting.

They will discuss Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the fighting in Darfur, as well as how best to get "free and fair" trade.

But it is the Middle East crisis which is likely to dominate as fighting continues in Lebanon.

Backbench Labour MPs are increasingly urging Mr Blair to put aside his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire and there has also been private criticism from inside the Cabinet.

Labour MP Andy Love said: "We are standing by as the carnage unfolds, as larger and larger numbers are displaced we are standing by while innocent people - women and children, UN monitors - [are killed]."

The UK government says it wants to achieve a lasting peace, not something which only stands for a few days.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Blair was deeply upset that his opposition to the immediate ceasefire calls was being used to portray him as giving a "green light" to Israeli bombings in Lebanon.

Raising the pace

The prime minister's official spokesman told reporters on Mr Blair's flight to Washington he wanted to "step up a gear".

"We want to increase the urgency, the pace of diplomacy, in identifying the practical steps that are necessary to bring about a ceasefire on both sides - and I stress both sides," he said.

The spokesman said ministers hoped the United Nations would pass a resolution "as early as possible next week" to endorse an international force to go to southern Lebanon once the fighting stopped.

The tempo of talks about putting together the force needed to increase, he said.

And measures were needed to allow the Lebanese government to take control of the whole country, with the militias disarmed - as set out in UN Resolution 1559, he said.

'Poison'

The White House talks also come as the UK's relationship with the US comes under new scrutiny.

The former UK Ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, told BBC News: "The thing we need to get out of this debate, take out of the debate is the notion of the 'special relationship'.

"It completely poisons any objective analysis of the relationship between Britain and America.

"The fact of the matter is, right now in this crisis the United States has only one special relationship with the outside world and that is with Israel."

Arms flights row

This week Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has said she was "not happy" about reports two US-chartered Airbus A310 planes with a cargo of laser-guided "smart bombs" used Prestwick Airport in Scotland.

She has raised the issue with her US counterpart Condoleezza Rice and said she would make a formal protests if the reports proved to be true.

On Thursday, the White House dismissed Mrs Beckett's concerns.

"Apparently, the British foreign minister thinks the paperwork was not in order," said spokesman Tony Snow.

"The Department of Defense does," he added. "We'll get it straightened out."

--------------------------------------------------------------

INFOWARS: BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND