Tory leader in US for terror talks

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith is visiting the US today for a toplevel conference on the war against terrorism, but is not scheduled to meet President George WBush.

Mr Duncan Smith will hold talks with vice-president Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, John Bolton, under-secretary for international security at the State Department, and de puty defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

He is not expected to meet either Mr Bush or defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, despite loud trumpeting during his Tory leadership campaign over his "close links" with the Republican administration.

Mr Duncan Smith is due to take part in the anti-terrorism conference on Friday in Washington and will then visit Ground Zero in New York.