Clinton backs US-UK relationship

Bill Clinton is promoting his book

Britain must maintain its "special relationship" with the United States to forge a new world order, former US President Bill Clinton has said.

The UK must be a bridge between the US and Europe so they can unite against terrorism, he said while in London promoting his autobiography.

He was speaking on Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan's Channel 4 show.

He accepted the relationship was costly for Tony Blair over the Iraq war, but insisted it should continue.

This country has been very good to me and my family Bill Clinton 10 things to ask Bill Clinton

On Monday evening, he mingled with guests including actor Kevin Spacey at a reception held in his honour at London's Guildhall.

He attended the event, which was organised by publishers Random House, with his daughter Chelsea.

Dressed in a pinstriped suit with blue shirt and tie, Mr Clinton told the audience: "This country has been very good to me and my family.

"Chelsea was a student at Oxford some 33 years after I went there in the late sixties. I have always loved it and always wished it well."

During the 30-minute interview on Channel 4, he talked about the Monica Lewinsky affair, how his drunken step-father shot at him and how he met wife Hillary, all detailed in My Life.

'Terror danger'

Asked if he backed George W Bush's Iraq policy, he told Richard and Judy that Prime Minister Tony Blair had been in a "terrible position" over his own stance, but he voiced support for Mr Blair.

He said of the so-called special relationship: "It has been quite costly for Tony Blair but I think it's a very important thing to maintain.

Clinton's appearance at Waterstone's caused a stir

"We are in a global information age in which the security environment is not dominated by the Cold War, but by a mutual interdependence and exposure to common dangers like terror and weapons of mass destruction."

Britain needs to be the bridge between the US and Europe, in a "new order in the world", he said.

"We are in a whole new era and someone has to take a lead in building an orderly world out of it."

Earlier on Monday, hundreds of Clinton fans turned out to see the 57-year-old former leader sign his book at a London shop.

Despite mixed reviews more than 35,000 copies have been sold in the UK since publication on June 22.