BRITAIN: Mr Tony Blair has again insisted he made the right decision by inviting President Bush to the UK and that "this is the time to stand firm with the United States in defeating terrorism".
The British Prime Minister was speaking to business leaders in Birmingham as the Metropolitan Police was dramatically revising its preparations for the unprecedented state visit and virtually tripling the number of officers - now a massive 14,000 - required for duty until Mr Bush leaves the capital for the north-east on Friday morning.
Addressing the CBI conference, Mr Blair said the time was right for President Bush to visit the country.
Citing the most recent terror attacks in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, as well as on the UN and Red Cross, he declared: "This is the right moment for us to stand firm with the United States in defeating terrorism wherever it is and delivering us safely from what I genuinely believe to be the security threat of the 21st century. Now is not the time to waver, now is the time to see it through."
However the potential for acute political embarrassment during the president's stay was brought home to Mr Blair yesterday when one of his key allies - former minister Mr Stephen Byers - appeared to launch a bid to undermine Mr Bush's bid for re-election next year.
Mr Byers proposed European sanctions against imports from four key marginal American states - Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Iowa - if the president refused to lift tariffs badly hitting British steel.
The World Trade Organisation's director general Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi warned Europe not to politicise its steel tariff row with the US and said such a move would be damaging to the integrity of the world trading system. However Mr Byers argued: "The EU should now indicate that if President Bush fails to comply with the WTO ruling, then it will impose tariffs targeted at major sectors of employment in politically sensitive swing states."
Despite suggestions that he was acting with the tacit approval of Blair supporters, Mr Byers' intervention was embarrassing for Mr Blair precisely because it reflected lingering disappointment within the Labour Party that Mr Bush beat Mr Al Gore in the 2000 election and the hope of many - even in Mr Blair's "New Labour" camp - that the Democrats might manage to unseat him in next year's contest.
There was some embarrassment too for the Metropolitan Police last night as the call-up of 14,000 officers for duty over the next four days failed to prevent a lone protester chaining herself to the gates of Buckingham Palace - where President and Mrs Bush will stay as guests of the queen - for two hours. The woman eventually ended her protest voluntarily and was reportedly arrested for causing criminal damage.
Tourists and workers heading for home observed the scene, with one telling local BBC news: "From the police point of view it's a bit of a joke . . . But I'm all for it."
The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, meanwhile yesterday announced himself all for massive anti-war protests to greet the American president - while explaining that it would not be appropriate for him to attend Thursday's planned Stop The War demonstration. Mr Kennedy, who joined an anti-war demonstration earlier this year before the Iraq conflict began, said the more people who took to the streets the better to leave Mr Bush in no doubt about the Europe-wide anger at the current situation in that country. The Lib Dem leader expressed the hope that there would be no repeat of the "draconian" measures adopted by police during protests when the President of China visited Britain.
"In a liberal democracy like ours you have the right to make your point," he told the BBC's Today programme.
Mr Kennedy explained that he would not be among the predicted 100,000 or more converging on central London on Thursday because he wanted to extend the "proper courtesies" to President Bush. However he said he would take the opportunity of a face-to-face meeting with the president tomorrow morning to raise the issue of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Mr Kennedy would also raise his concern at reports that the US is seeking an early exit from Iraq. "There is no way that having made this commitment Britain or the US can be walking away and leaving a situation of chaos which could well result."