BRITAIN:British prime minister Gordon Brown moved to dispel any lingering impressions of a policy rift with Washington last night in a major foreign policy speech strongly reasserting the primacy of the Anglo-American alliance.
Mr Brown's reassurance that he is not seeking to distance himself from president George Bush was coupled with another tough warning of stronger sanctions to come if Iran continues to defy the international community.
In his first address to the traditional lord mayor's banquet as prime minister, Mr Brown affirmed his life-long admiration for America, declaring: "I have no truck with anti-Americanism in Britain or elsewhere in Europe and I believe that our ties with America - founded on values we share - constitute our most important bilateral relationship."
After conflicting signals about the direction of British foreign policy under the new Labour leadership, some analysts had been alarmed to see the prime minister seemingly upstaged during French president Nicolas Sarkozy's recent visit to the US.
However, Mr Brown told his Guildhall audience: "It is good for Britain, for Europe and for the wider world that France and Germany and the European Union are building stronger relationships with America."
The prime minister's comments came alongside a further twist in Britain's internal debate about the new EU Reform Treaty, with shadow foreign secretary William Hague appearing to commit a future Conservative government to a referendum even if the treaty has already been ratified by the Westminster parliament.
During a debate on the queen's speech in the Commons, Mr Hague suggested that a treaty in force but lacking democratic legitimacy "would not be acceptable to a Conservative government", adding: "we would not let matters rest there".
Conservative leader David Cameron had conspicuously declined Mr Brown's challenge to clarify his position on a post-ratification referendum during their exchanges in the Commons last Tuesday.
Foreign secretary David Miliband seized on Mr Hague's comments to suggest: "this is proof that Euroscepticism in the Tory Party is back with a vengeance.
"A referendum once the treaty has been signed and sealed by all 27 member states would be bad for Britain, leave us isolated in Europe and would mean years of instability and uncertainty."
At the Guildhall Mr Brown asserted the continuing importance of all the UK's existing alliances.
"Through our membership of the European Union - which gives us and 26 other countries the unique opportunity to work together on economic, environmental and security challenges - and the Commonwealth, and through our commitment to Nato and the UN, we have the capacity to work together with all those who share our vision of the future." He continued: "I do not see these as partnerships in competition with each other but mutually reinforcing."
Mr Brown said a modern nation's self-interest would not be found in isolation but in co-operation to overcome shared challenges: "and so the underlying issue for our country - indeed for every country - is how together in this new interdependent world we renew and strengthen our international rules, institutions and networks."
Mr Brown described his approach as "hard-headed internationalism".
It was internationalist "because global challenges need global solutions and nations must co-operate across borders - often with hard-headed intervention - to give expression to our shared interests and shared values".
It was hard-headed, "because we will not shirk from the difficult long-term decisions and because only through reform of our international rules and institutions will we achieve concrete, on-the-ground results".
Mr Brown said Iran's nuclear ambitions were the greatest immediate threat to non-proliferation and that it had a choice - "confrontation with the international community leading to a tightening of sanctions or, if it changes its approach and ends support for terrorism, a transformed relationship with the world."