US must put Middle East, poverty and global warming on agenda, says Blair

Tony Blair warned President George Bush yesterday that the United States must listen to the concerns of the rest of the world and throw its weight behind efforts to tackle the Middle East crisis, global warming and poverty.

In an attempt to answer critics who have called him a poodle of Washington, the Prime Minister called on America to broaden its agenda from Saddam Hussein and the war on terrorism.

But Mr Blair defended his strong support for President Bush over Iraq and, in a message aimed at European Union countries, said other nations could not carp from the sidelines while expecting America to be the world's policeman.

He told a London conference of British ambassadors from around the world, that the US was "a force for good" and dismissed anti-Americanism as a "foolish indulgence". He said: "We should remain the closest ally of the US, and as allies influence them to continue broadening their agenda."

Mr Blair went on: "The problem the people have with the US – not the rabid anti-Americans but the average, middle-ground people – is not that, for example, they oppose them on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or international terrorism. People listen to the US on these issues and may well agree with them; but they want the US to listen back.

"So for the international community, the Middle East peace process is also important; global poverty is important; the UN is important." He called for the West to reach out to the Muslim world by putting more effort into the Middle East peace process. "The reason there is opposition to our stance on Iraq has less to do with any love of Saddam, but over a sense of double standards."

In his most direct response to critics, Mr Blair said: "The price of British influence is not, as some would have it, that we have, obediently, to do what the US asks. I would never commit British troops to a war I thought was wrong or unnecessary. Where we disagree, as over Kyoto, we disagree."

But he said America could not be left to face alone "tricky issues" such as terrorism. Some countries wanted the luxury of criticising Washington for tackling issues they knew had to be confronted. "So if the US acts alone, they are unilateralist; but if they want allies, people shuffle to the back."

Mr Blair gave a strong hint Britain should join the euro to be at the heart of Europe. "If we are in, we should be in wholeheartedly. That must include, provided the economic conditions are right, membership of the single currency."

Highlighting revelations on North Korea's weapons programme, he warned that it was only a matter of time before terrorists acquired a nuclear capability. The growing number of unstable or dictatorial states trying to acquire that from North Korea posed "a real, active threat to our security".

Mr Blair added: "So when, as with Iraq, the international community through the UN makes a demand on a regime to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction and that regime refuses, that regime threatens us. Unless the world takes a stand on this issue of weapons of mass destruction and sends out a clear signal, we will rue the consequences of our weakness."

Last night, Mr Blair made a personal appeal to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, to lift the ban on Palestinians travelling to London for a conference on the Middle East peace process next week.

Israel imposed the ban after Sunday's suicide bombings in Tel Aviv, which killed 22. If Mr Sharon does not relent, the meeting is likely to be postponed until after Israel's elections on 28 January.