Blair and Bush move for peace

Tony Blair and George Bush today united behind a new drive for peace in the Middle East after Yasser Arafat's death.

But although they were said to be hammering out a plan to bring the two sides together, no details were being released. Downing Street officials played down hopes that Mr Bush was ready to commit himself to calling an international summit or to send a high-profile envoy to the region.

Despite being urged by Mr Blair to announce a bold initiative as a signal of his personal commitment, the US President appeared wary of getting too deeply involved in public until he is sure Mr Arafat's successor will be a moderate figure willing to crack down on terrorist attacks against Israel.

Mr Blair arrived in Washington last night, the first international leader invited to the White House since last week's presidential election. Mr Bush greeted him on the South Lawn with a handshake and patted Mr Blair on the back before ushering him inside to a private dinner.

In formal talks today, the Prime Minister was hoping to win support on a range of issues in an attempt to reassure

Labour MPs that his backing

for the Iraq war has paid dividends in terms of greater influence. High on the agenda was persuading Mr Bush to adopt a more friendly attitude to Europe, obtaining a fair trial or a release date for the four Britons held at Guantanamo Bay and movement on tackling global warming.

But they were all overshadowed by the opportunity to make progress on the Middle East following Mr Arafat's death.

"There is a new era and that means it is possible to move on," said the Prime Minister's spokesman. "What's missing is the miracle word 'momentum'.

We have to say

to the world this is one of the most significant challenges we face and the biggest signal we can give is President Bush saying this is a high priority."

Ideally, British diplomats would like Mr Bush to put pressure on Israel to give concessions over the occupied West Bank but US officials have made clear that is not yet on offer.

And they were warning that the President is unlikely to copy his predecessor Bill Clinton by attempting to take a personal lead in new talks unless it becomes clear that a deal is possible. "It really depends on what comes out of this and who's running the show," said one US official, referring to a successor to

Mr Arafat, who was boycotted by the White House for his failure to curb terrorist attacks.

"No matter how bold you want to be, as long as there continues to be suicide bombers blowing up buses in Israeli cities there's a limit to what can be accomplished."

The two leaders were also discussing progress in the US-led assault on Fallujah and arrangements for the Iraqi elections due to be held in January.

Opposition parties questioned whether Mr Blair was getting a big enough political payback in return for his support for the war.