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TONY BLAIR'S pledge to establish Britain as a "bridge" between the United States and Europe was challenged on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday, amid claims that he will struggle to deliver on the promises he made to George Bush.

American, British and other European politicians questioned the Prime Minister's assertion that Britain could have "the best of both worlds" in its relations with America and the European Union. The proposals were dismissed in some quarters as "absurd", and brought warnings that Britain would be viewed with "mistrust" by both sides if it sought to present itself as an "honest broker" between America and the EU.

The criticisms overshadowed Mr Blair's return from Washington after securing what his officials believe is a politically useful deal with the new American president reached when they met for the first time on Friday at Camp David.

In a speech to the Canadian parliament on his way to meet Mr Bush, Mr Blair said Britain could have "the best of both worlds" by serving as a bridge between America and the EU to preserve the transatlantic alliance. But Elmer Brock, the German MEP who chairs the European parliament's foreign affairs committee, said that he did not believe it would work. He told Radio Four: "There will be some mistrust. You must be a member of a camp in order to have credibility with the other side."

The suggestion was also ridiculed by Richard Perle, the former State Department deputy in the Reagan administration, who said that America did not need a bridge with Europe because it had its own relations with other countries. He told The World this Weekend on Radio Four: "We want friends, we want allies, we are not looking for a bridge. The notion that the UK will somehow represent the US to others is really anathema. It's quite an absurd concept."

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Tory Defence Secretary, said Mr Blair could not "have it both ways". He had to choose, but a British government "must never sacrifice that relationship with the US", he said. The Tories claimed Mr Blair deceived Mr Bush by failing to tell him the truth about European plans for a rapid reaction force and the danger they posed to Nato. Iain Duncan Smith, the shadow defence secretary, moved yesterday to undo the deal between the White House and Downing Street by claiming that Mr Blair would be unable to deliver on his assurances.

The Prime Minister told the new American president during their first meeting that the European defence initiative would remain under the Nato umbrella however hard France tried to separate the force from the Atlantic alliance. In exchange, Mr Bush agreed to support the project and said it "makes sense" for the United States.

But Mr Duncan Smith said that the Nice Treaty agreed by the EU in December made it plain Nato's primacy would be undermined. "Tony Blair has given assurances to President Bush which are simply untrue. They will end up losing friends once this deceit is found out." Mr Blair, who returned from Camp David declaring he had been impressed by Mr Bush's grasp of issues, offered British backing in principle for America's plans to develop a missile defence system against attacks from rogue states.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001