Bush huddles with Brown, Blair as Europe tour wraps up

The U.S. president, who said in an interview that Brown agreed that it would be wrong to set premature withdrawal timetables for British forces, was also to visit Belfast for talks on the future of Northern Ireland.  Â

 

The meetings came a day after he met with Queen Elizabeth II for tea in Windsor Castle, and later with Brown for dinner in Downing Street, as protesters scuffled with riot police nearby.

 

Bush also dismissed talk that his ties to Blair -- his staunchest ally in the war to topple Saddam Hussein -- were stronger than those to Brown: "Its different people, different times, and yet the same important relationship."

 

"Frankly, they’re both unique relationships, and both of them honest relationships, and both of them forged at different times. Blair’s and my relationship was forged in fire," he told Sky News television.

 

Bush met with Blair, now the envoy for the quartet of powers trying to forge Middle East peace, for breakfast talks on his efforts, and then headed to 10 Downing Street for talks with Brown.

 

The two leaders shook hands on a red carpet outside Browns offices before going into the meeting, which was likely to center on ways to curb Iran’s suspect nuclear program -- a central theme of Bush’s Europe swing -- and plans to reduce troop’s levels in Iraq.

 

The pair was also to discuss climate change, the state of the global economy and ongoing efforts to clinch an international trade liberalization deal, officials said.

 

Bush will then set off to Belfast, and along with Brown and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, will meet with Northern Irelands First Minister Peter Robinson and his deputy Martin McGuinness.

 

According to Cowen’s office in Dublin, the meetings will focus on recent progress in the British province, review outstanding political issues, and analyze how best to build on the recent international investment conference there.

 

In the protests on Sunday, 10 police officers were injured and 25 demonstrators arrested, police said, after protesters tried to breach police lines sealing off Whitehall, yards from where Bush and Brown were meeting.

 

On Monday three people were charged with offences during the demonstrations -- two young men charged with obstructing police, and a 60-year-old woman accused of indecent exposure.

 

The demonstrations returned to a tense calm before the end of the Downing Street meeting Sunday evening.

 

They were principally demonstrating against the invasions of Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001, both of which were carried out when Blair was prime minister.

 

Protests have been rare during Bush’s week-long tour of Europe, which has taken him to Slovenia, Germany, Italy, the Vatican City and France.

 

Since Bush’s visit to Paris, commentators have made much of the new warmth in ties with France, and what are seen to be the cooler relations between Bush and Brown, at least compared to those with the British PM’s predecessor Blair.

 

But U.S. aides were at pains to underline the enduring close ties between Britain and the United States.

 

Bush told Sky that he had "absolutely no problem with how Gordon Brown is managing the Iraqi effort," adding that "substantial progress" was being made in Afghanistan.

 

His last visit to London, in November 2003, saw three full days of protests, with tens of thousands of people marching past Downing Street marshaled by 5,000 police officers.

 

Brown went to the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David outside Washington last July, soon after taking over from Blair, to reaffirm transatlantic ties. He also visited the White House in April this year.