Straw plays down UK-US disputes

Blair has faced Labour criticism for his links with Bush

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has rejected suggestions of a growing gap between the UK and US after an American veto on renewing a Bosnia peace mission.

The US veto over the United Nations peace force comes as it insists American soldiers be guaranteed immunity from prosecution by the new international war crimes court.

The air is already thick with various accusations of what our forces do in the world

Bernard Jenkin
Shadow defence secretary

That dispute comes alongside other differences between Europe and America over the Middle East peace process and US steel tariffs.

Mr Straw played down such disagreements, pointing to what he said was America's "good record" to trying to resolve international problems.

And Downing Street said that it understood the US had concerns and expressed the hope those concerns could be met.

The spokesman added: "We believe strongly in the value of the peace keeping operation.

"It's not up to the prime minister to comment on other country's policies."

On Sunday, International Development Secretary Clare Short said the US refusal to back the international court was an "enormous disappointment" to those who wanted basic rules of decency for all world leaders.

Ms Short said the US found it "more difficult than most of the rest of us to operate multilaterally".

Tony Blair has worked hard to secure close links with Republican President George Bush.

But some Labour backbenchers have argued he has been too willing to follow a US lead.

'Wait and see'

The UN Security Council has decided to extend the Bosnia peace mission's mandate for another 72 hours to try to break the deadlock in the dispute.

Mr Straw said the disagreement was a "serious matter" but stressed the American ambassador to the UN had said the US would continue to maintain peace and stability in the Balkans and worldwide.

America has been against the court plans well before the Bush administration came to power and it looks set to continue that stance.

The UN has three days to resolve the mission dispute

But Mr Straw said: "Let us wait and see."

The foreign secretary explained he had been involved in "intensive discussions" over the weekend with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

He argued there had not been the "faintest whiff" of a UN peacekeeping soldier being prosecuted by the international criminal tribunal for Yugoslavia.

He also dismissed claims of a rift between the US and UK over the Middle East peace process.

'Relax'

Mr Powell has now said the US will no longer deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The UK has been critical of Mr Arafat but continues to deal with him, although Mr Straw again welcomed President Bush's latest peace plan.

The British minister repeated his call for Europe to be more relaxed about its relations with America.

And he insisted links between London and Washington remained strong.

"The relationship is a close one," he said.

"Sometimes between good friends you have disagreements, the issue there is how do you resolve them."

Mr Straw underlined the way America had doubled its aid budget for developing nations and worked for peace in Afghanistan and between India and Pakistan.

Propaganda concerns

The international court plans have also sparked concern from the Conservatives.

Shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin said: "We should be just as worried as the US that propaganda operations of terrorist organisations will be constantly campaigning to get British and American soldiers in the dock for simply carrying out their duties.

"The air is already thick with various accusations of what our forces do in the world."

Mr Jenkin said that the US had more peace keepers than any other country and had doubled their overseas aid programme so their commitment to the rest of the world should not be doubted.

The US should not be expected to put their troops in a vulnerable position and the UK should have taken greater steps to protect its troops.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told MPs last week he was content with safeguards which mean the court will not step in where countries investigate allegations against their own soldiers.