President Bush yesterday lavished praise on the new British prime minister, Gordon Brown, at their first summit together, saying he was a man of principle who understood the ideological war against terrorism.
But over two days of talks held at Camp David, Mr Brown retained his right to withdraw British troops from Iraq more quickly than the Americans.
During their joint press conference yesterday, Mr Bush heaped personal praise on the British prime minister as a worthy leader and a man who wanted to find solutions.
Mr Brown, by contrast, hailed the relationship with America as the most important bilateral relationship for Britain, but held back from personal praise of Mr Bush, in what is likely to have been a calculated decision to put the bilateral relations on a more formal footing.
Mr Brown also read out a businesslike lengthy statement and surprisingly described the talks simply as "full and frank", normally diplomatic language for a cool relationship. British sources stressed that Mr Brown wanted to work with the US president on the practical issues they faced, particularly world trade, Darfur and the Middle East.
In what may prove a difficult issue this autumn, British government sources stressed that Mr Brown would make his decision on British troop deployments in Iraq solely on the basis of the advice of the British military, and implicitly not in order to meet any request from the US to stay alongside American troops.
In carefully chosen words Mr Brown stressed Britain "had moved from 'combat' to 'overwatch' [ aiding Iraqi forces] in three of the four provinces for which we the British have responsibility.
"We intend to move to overwatch in the fourth province and that decision will be made on the military advice of commanders on the ground. Whatever happens, we will make a full statement to parliament when it returns."
Mr Bush said decisions on deployment for the US and Britain were "results-orientated". He denied that there had been a policy change by the British, who have 5,500 troops in southern Iraq.
Mr Bush did not directly answer whether he planned to pass on the war to the next president, who will take office in January 2009. But he suggested that was likely. "This is going to take a long time in Iraq, just like the ideological struggle is going to take a long time," he said.
Mr Brown also underlined the importance of the relationship between America and the UK, saying that it was "a partnership that is founded on more than common values and common history, it is a partnership that is founded and driven forward by our shared values".
Mr Brown said terrorism was not a cause, "it is a crime, and a crime against humanity". By contrast, Mr Bush stressed the personal chemistry between the two men, accepting it had been a wrench to lose his close relationship with Tony Blair. - (Guardian service)