Browns anti-war ministers leaves Washington uneasy

British Prime MInister Gordon Browns appointment of ministers critical of the Bush Administration and the Iraq war has created unease in Washington after Tony Balirs exit from office last week.

London, July 2 : British Prime MInister Gordon Brown's appointment of ministers critical of the Bush Administration and the Iraq war has created unease in Washington after Tony Balir's exit from office last week.

A source told The Times that "eyebrows had been raised" over the decision to give a senior ministerial job at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Lord Malloch-Brown, the former Deputy UN Secretary-General, who has attacked Bush's "megaphone diplomacy" and America's attitude to multilateralism.

John Bolton, the former US Ambassador at the UN, with whom Lord Malloch-Brown clashed repeatedly, has already described the appointment as an "inauspicious" beginning to the new Government.

Concern was also expressed over a speech made in Washington by Margaret Beckett, the outgoing Foreign Secretary, in which she criticised the "sense of stagnation" surrounding disarmament efforts and called on the US to ratify an international treaty banning nuclear tests - which Bush has consistently refused to do.

Beckett was subsequently replaced by David Miliband, who is known to harbour doubts over the Iraq war. Last year, he intervened in a Cabinet meeting to question why Britain was not taking a stronger position against Israel's military action in Lebanon.

The White House will have noted also the appointment last week of John Denham, who resigned from government over the Iraq war, and Harriet Harman, Labour's new deputy leader, who has suggested that the party apologise for supporting the invasion.

Brown is expected to meet President Bush as early as next month.

Sources in Washington have suggested that Mr Brown may prefer to delay until September when he could "draw the sting" of being seen with Bush - a hugely unpopular figure in Britain - by combining the visit with the Clinton Foundation's annual conference in New York and a meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Some analysts believe he may want to wait until after the next general elections, in both Britain and the US, before becoming more fully engaged in the US.

ANI