PM must start saying no to Bush

Because of the way the Iraq war was launched, the familiar pattern of the world is disrupted. The UN, Nato, the EU, the relations between allied countries now divided - all these pieces are up in the air. The Prime Minister sees this clearly. In everything he says nowadays he moves beyond the battles of the day in Iraq and tries to sketch the future. He has sent our troops to kill and be killed in Iraq to secure a safer world for us all. They can be relied on to win the war; they have to rely on him to win the peace.

Some Americans are content to trust in their own power alone. By their own right arm alone, these Americans would like to secure American safety and spread democratic values across the world. Some Britons felt the same way in Palmerston's time, when the Royal Navy ruled the seas and more and more of the map was coloured red.

But military power is supreme only in destruction. From its aircraft carriers and bases the United States could destroy any obnoxious regime within hours. The United States is not by nature a destructive power.

On the contrary, it longs to construct a better future for itself and for the rest of us. But to build anything outside its own frontiers the United States needs partners. This is true of restoring Iraq after the neglect of Saddam Hussein and the damage being wrought by the Anglo-American invasion. It is true also of the campaign against terrorism, disarming North Korea, achieving peace between Israel and Palestine and any worthwhile effort for a more decent world.

In the past few months Tony Blair has played the part of the farthing in the penny-farthing Anglo-American bicycle. He has given wholehearted public support to President Bush's policy, and so earned the right to give the President advice in private which the President might not always welcome. He cannot be entirely satisfied with the result. Now he is trying to ensure a role for the UN in the future governance of Iraq.

The success of the Anglo-American relationship depends not on sentiment but on the continued usefulness of Britain to the United States.

Sentiment plays little part in American policy-making. At the moment Britain is highly useful to the United States, thanks to Tony Blair's wholehearted support over Iraq and commitment of brave, skilled and much needed British forces to the pre-emptive strike. But it is hard work being the farthing in the penny-farthing bicycle. This is certainly not the role that the Prime Minister thinks best for Britain.

So he will rightly return to his own favoured concept of Britain as helping to form a bridge between Europe and the US. The difficulty here is France. But politicians have to grow thick skins. Neither Tony Blair nor President Chirac will let any personal grudge stand in the way of reconciliation when that is necessary. But such reconciliation will not come quickly.

The impetus of public feeling behind President Chirac has carried him far into a policy of rivalry with America, perhaps further than he originally intended. For example, he could hardly have expected to drag Germany behind his chariot wheels. But the old Gaullist concept of rallying Europe with opposition to America will not work. Not just Britain, but Spain, Italy, Portugal and the newcomers such as Poland are Atlanticist in outlook. So in the end is Germany.

Both Britain and France will need to change tack if Europe is to act neither as a satellite nor a rival to the United States but as a valid partner.

President Chirac will have to drop his hostile rhetoric. The Prime Minister will have to be ready to say no occasionally to the United States. Those who favoured a common European foreign policy will have to limit their pretensions.

We should concentrate on making a success of what we can do together as Europeans near at hand to our own continent. The enlargement of the EU to the East, the continued pacification of the Balkans, the handling of Turkey's wish to join the EU, the necessary pressure on the US to achieve a Palestine settlement - these are all matters on which we already act in unison as Europeans.

We should make a success of these efforts, and add others as we can agree on them. This will be a slow difficult task, but necessary if we are to offer our friend the superpower a partnership which is worthwhile.