Britain is urging the United States to give a provisional timetable for the withdrawal of US-led forces from Iraq, according to a British government source quoted in this morning's newspapers.
The Daily Telegraphreported the British government is hopeful Mr George W. Bush will agree to make a formal announcement within two or three months, quoting an unnamed government source for its information.
The paper said Britain, Bush's closest ally on Iraq and a major troop contributor, believed an "indicative timetable" for a pullout would bolster Iraq's interim government and undermine insurgents.
"Giving a timetable would be an important political signal that we intend to leave Iraq," the government source was quoted as saying.
"The main Iraqi parties are already talking about when coalition forces should be drawn down," said the source. "America knows it will have to deal with the issue soon."
The Foreign Office declined to comment on the report.
Talk of a withdrawal timetable could give Mr Blair a boost as he prepares to call a general election, widely expected to take place in May.
Mr Blair's support for the US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein and the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction led to a slump in his personal trust ratings in opinion polls. But the polls show he is still set to win a third term.
Iraq returned to haunt the British prime minister yesterday when pictures of British soldiers apparently abusing Iraqis were splashed over newspapers in an echo of last year's Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
As a court martial of three British soldiers continued in Germany, front-page pictures showed naked Iraqi prisoners apparently being forced to simulate anal and other sexual acts.