Blair says US relationship crucial to British influence
Tony Blair has been accused of too closely aligning his foreign policy with George Bush
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Tuesday, 19, Dec 2006 08:03
Tony Blair has insisted that Britain would pay a "very heavy price" if it abandoned its special relationship with the US.
A Chatham House report concluded today that the prime minister had not been able to influence the White House with regards to the war in Iraq and as such his legacy would be one of failure.
Speaking to journalists in Dubai as he continued his Middle Eastern tour, Mr Blair described the affiliation as a "cornerstone" of post-war British foreign policy.
He explained that if the UK was to distance itself from the US it would have a "devastating impact on our ability to make our voice heard in the world, on our power, on our influence".
"The relationship with America is a strength in places like this because people know that, whether it is Israel/Palestine or sorting out the economic problems of the region or any of the major challenges that we face today - world trade, global poverty through to the fight against terrorism, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq or elsewhere - it can't be done without America," Mr Blair said.
Analysing the prime minister's foreign policy since he took power in 1997, the report suggests that Mr Blair's decisions following the September 11th terror attacks will heavily impose upon those of his successors.
"The root failure of Tony Blair's foreign policy has been its inability to influence the Bush administration in any significant way despite the sacrifice - military, political and financial - that the UK has made," the report says.
Reacting to the report earlier today, Margaret Beckett refuted the suggestion that the UK had lost influence in the world as a result of its involvement in Iraq.
The foreign secretary dismissed the findings of the thinktank's report as "flawed at the least".
"The whole thesis of the six pages, which is all it is, is that Britain no longer has influence in the world and that is all because of the 'terrible mistake' Tony Blair made in Iraq," she told the Today programme.
She added: "I would certainly say that the culminating thesis that Britain and this prime minister now lack influence in the world is just so ridiculously wrong."
Although she accepted there were tensions between Britain and some Arab countries, she added: "When it comes to the governments, the negotiators, the people who are trying to do deals, the people who are trying to bring things together, the people who are wanting advice and support and so on, Tony Blair's influence continues to be substantial."