BRITAIN: Mr Liam Fox, the British Conservative party chairman, will fly into New York for the Republican convention today, despite a row between the Conservative leader, Mr Michael Howard, and President George Bush.
The senior Conservative will be attending the convention with the party's former leader, Mr William Hague.
Mr Fox will be hoping for a meeting with the US president, though none has been promised or arranged.
Any discussion is likely to be seen as a chance to build bridges after Mr Howard was provoked into issuing a blistering riposte to the US president over his decision to bar him from the White House for an attack on Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair.
Mr Howard's rebuff - which marks a new low in historically strong relations between the Conservatives and the Republicans - came after it emerged that Mr Karl Rove, Mr Bush's closest adviser, told Mr Howard's aides: "You can forget about meeting the president. Don't bother coming. You are not meeting him," in a phone call in February.
That followed Mr Howard's decision to call on Mr Blair to "seriously consider his position" after admitting he did not know if the 45-minute claim related to long or short-range weapons of mass destruction.
This weekend, after the revelation of the argument, Mr Howard issued a statement which said: "A Conservative government would work very closely with President Bush or President Kerry, but my job as leader of the opposition is to say things as I see them in the interests of our country and to hold our government to account.
"If some people in the White House, in their desire to protect Mr Blair, think I am too tough on Mr Blair or too critical of him, they are entitled to their opinion. But I shall continue to do my job as I see fit." Mr Howard added: "Britain shares with the United States many interests and many values, and the USA is our closest ally."
White House spokesman Mr Trent Duffy said Mr Rove had never spoken directly to Mr Howard about access to Bush.
"According to Mr Rove, that allegation is completely untrue. Mr Rove recalls only one conversation with Mr Howard and that was at the Normandy commemoration of D-Day [in June] and the subject never came up," he said.
The White House has maintained strong links with Mr Howard's predecessors, Mr Hague and Iain Duncan Smith.
The fact the president was so willing to snub Mr Howard, despite the Conservatives being natural allies of Bush's Republican Party in the past, will be a blow - suggesting he sees no likelihood he will have to do business with him as prime minister.