By-election win adds to Blair appeal in US

Buoyed by the sweeping Staffordshire South East by-election victory, Tony Blair yesterday crowned his visit to the US by meeting President Clinton and urging his case that the "New Labour" party he has fashioned has the political and economic credentials to lead Britain.

Emerging from a 30-minute session in the Oval Office with Mr Clinton, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and other senior officials, a relaxed and confident Mr Blair proclaimed his three-day trip had been "highly successful," both in terms of political relations with the US, and "the reception given by the American business community to New Labour's message."

Perforce brief, the White House discussions went much as expected, with both men urging a restoration of the IRA ceasefire and the earliest possible resumption of all-party talks, once the preparatory elections are completed. They also examined the similar economic insecurities gripping people in the US and Britain at a time of rapid technological change, and which will be a powerful factor in the upcoming elections in both countries.

Both heaped praise on the other. Mr Clinton lauded Labour for its "statesmanlike" bipartisan approach on Northern Ireland, while Mr Blair said the President's visit to Britain, Ireland and Ulster last November had "made a huge impact" on the peace process.

The warm words only cemented the feeling that the two men personally get along well, in contrast to Mr Clinton's uneasy rapport with John Major. "Do you think you're talking to the next British prime minister?" a reporter asked Mr Clinton as the meeting began. "It's all I can do to keep up with US politics," came the deadpan reply, "I can only hope he's talking to the next American president."

Here, as in New York, Mr Blair has been treated as a prime minister in waiting, carrying out a skilfully orchestrated schedule, packed with meetings with leaders of the US political, economic and media establishments. Thursday's by-election triumph has only added to his lustre.

Speaking in a TV interview earlier yesterday, he called the Staffordshire South East vote "stunning", saying it had increased the chances of an early general election in October.The result, he declared outside the White House, showed very clearly that Labour was now capable of uniting the country, "capable of speaking across class barriers, across the divide, at a time of economic worry". Nowhere has that message been more closely listened to than in the US financial community.