Rice's low-profile London agenda

By Bridget Kendall
BBC Diplomatic Correspondent

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not in search of the limelight as she passes through London this time.

There will be no press access, just talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, and dinner with Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett before Dr Rice leaves on Friday morning for Brussels.

Iraq will be priority number one for Condoleezza Rice

That does not mean there is not plenty to talk about.

A US official outlined four main topics on the agenda when Condoleezza Rice briefs the British government on her meetings in capitals across the Middle East in the last week.

Number one topic is Iraq.

"In any discussion with the Americans about the region, Iraq is always top priority," said one British diplomat.

'New way forward'

And no wonder, when Britain is still the United States' main military and political partner in Iraq; even if US policy at the moment is to inject yet more troops into the country at the same time that Britain is openly seeking to reduce numbers in and around Basra, at a point when it is possible to arrange a handover safely.

So Dr Rice will be explaining how far her private talks with Arab leaders have matched the slightly wary public endorsements she has secured for President Bush's "new way forward in Iraq" - as US officials are now calling it.

The subject that is likely to dominate is Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Linked to that is the topic of Iran and the tough line President Bush has - somewhat controversially - decided to take against the Iranian government, even to the point of raiding Iranian offices in northern Iraq, to the visible dismay of some Iraqi government officials.

This is clearly a delicate issue for Britain. UK diplomats have been reluctant to comment on the raids in northern Iraq. "That's a matter for the Americans," they say hastily, while adding that in southern Iraq British forces will go after anyone who threatens their own security.

The third topic, according to US diplomats, is Lebanon, and the need to shore up the faltering government of Prime Minister Sinoria. A conference on Lebanon is planned to take place in Paris in the next few weeks. Both Britain and the US are anxious to see he is properly supported there.

But the subject that is likely to dominate is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the message Dr Rice will hear in London is likely to echo the one she has got from all the Arab governments she has met: that this is a critical issue and it is even more urgent than ever to address it when dangerous new tensions could now spill over from Iraq's deepening sectarianism; but without new US pressure, no new momentum is likely to revive what is in many ways a moribund peace process.

'Tinkering and updating'

So what has Condoleezza Rice to offer? One idea to emerge over the past week is for her to host a three-way informal summit with the Palestinian President and the Israeli Prime Minister. US officials say the aim would be for her to try to engage the two leaders in a more long term discussion on a future Palestinian state, without getting bogged down in detail and current disagreements.

Diplomats deny this is an attempt to bypass the so-called Road Map that has for the past few years been the agreed blueprint for moving forward. But one US official admitted that perhaps part of the problem was that both Olmert and Abbas had to some extent inherited the Road Map, not been there at its inception, and some of the language in it might be outdated.

A British diplomat agreed that perhaps the Road Map was no longer the most suitable document and maybe there were parts that needed tinkering with and updating. And getting the two leaders to consider if they wanted to adapt it might be one way to create new momentum.

But that is still a long way off. For Tony Blair, at least, the main goal at the moment, it seems, is to try to keep the Americans involved at the highest level. "We want to make sure the US engages and will stay as engaged as we want them to be", said one British official.