UK:DOWNING STREET rejected suggestions of a rift between Gordon Brown and George Bush over troop withdrawals from Iraq yesterday as the US president arrived in the UK for what is expected to be his final visit to the country before he leaves office.
A spokeswoman for the UK prime minister said there was "absolutely no disagreement" between the two countries over the approach to troop withdrawal.
She also played down the significance of comments in which Mr Bush appeared to disparage a conference in Saudi Arabia next weekend about oil prices that Mr Brown is attending.
Mr Bush started his UK tour with tea with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle and dinner with Mr Brown at Downing Street, just a few hundred metres from a large and audible demonstration by anti-war campaigners in Parliament Square.
Today he will have breakfast with former prime minister Tony Blair before holding talks and a joint press conference with Mr Brown, and then flying to Belfast.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Bush said he had already had "discussions" with Mr Brown about troops and was firmly opposed to a timetable for withdrawal.
"Our answer is: there should be no definitive timetable," he said.
The BBC reported last week that an announcement about the final withdrawal of all British troops from Iraq could be made before the end of the year, and Mr Brown told a news conference last week that he would be making a statement about troop deployment in Iraq before the summer recess.
But government sources said the Commons statement would be a progress report, and would not include a timetable for the withdrawal of all troops.
Downing Street said: "There is absolutely no disagreement between the UK and the US on troop withdrawal. It is not our policy to set an arbitrary timetable and we will not set an arbitrary timetable. The prime minister is very clear that troop withdrawals will be decided by conditions on the ground."
The spokeswoman also insisted that the prime minister was not concerned about what the president had to say about the oil conference in Jeddah next weekend. Mr Bush warned against expecting any major short-term improvements. Mr Brown had also "always been clear that this is not a simple solution", she said.
Last night's dinner at Downing Street was described as an informal one. There were about 25 guests, including several cabinet ministers. The formal business of today's talks will concentrate on the global economy and the progress in the Doha round of world trade talks.
Yesterday, after flying into London-Heathrow airport on Air Force One, Mr Bush and his wife, Laura, were taken by helicopter to Windsor for tea with the queen and the duke of Edinburgh.
It was the first time a US president had been received there since Ronald Reagan was pictured riding with the queen in 1982. In what was billed as a "private and informal" meeting between "old friends", the party was served a traditional English tea with small sandwiches and cakes.
But the tone was very different in Parliament Square, central London, where former MP and veteran Labour politician Tony Benn was among those addressing the Stop the War Coalition rally.
To loud applause, Mr Benn said: "I listened as a student to the judgment at Nuremberg that convicted Nazi criminals. The war against Iraq is a war crime. The US spends $400 million [ €259 million] every day for the war while there are people starving."- (Guardian service)