PRESIDENT BUSH pressed Tony Blair yesterday to ensure that Europe’s new defence plans did nothing to undermine or duplicate Nato. The same message was drummed home in Brussels by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State.

During “severe, frank and intense” talks with his Nato counterparts, General Powell said Washington was prepared to back European Union plans to boost its military strength in a way fully compatible with Nato.

But he added: “The United States cannot accept independent EU structures that duplicate existing Nato capabilities.”

The row centres on an embryonic military planning headquarters in Brussels that would allow the EU to respond to crises independently of Nato. Draft plans for a small planning group were published last week by Britain, France and Germany.

The US is highly suspicious of the development, fearing that the body is a Trojan horse and will be used by countries such as France to undermine the supremacy of Nato and US influence in Europe.

Mr Bush raised the issue in a 25-minute telephone conversation with Mr Blair yesterday. Scott McClellan, Mr Bush’s spokesman, said afterwards that the President fully endorsed the reservations expressed by General Powell.

Mr McClellan couched the criticism in language used by Mr Bush and Mr Blair in a joint statement published during the President’s state visit last month.

In it the pair expressed support for an EU defence initiative that “improves Europe’s capabilities to act and develops in a way that is fully co-ordinated, compatible and transparent with Nato”, and that such a body should evolve “without duplication and divisiveness”. Mr Bush has said before that he trusts Mr Blair to ensure there is no conflict with Nato.

Despite his own reservations about the EU defence initiative, Mr Blair is increasingly caught between his wish to maximise Britain’s clout in Europe while remaining close to his friend in the Oval Office.

Downing Street displayed a sensitivity on the issue by failing to volunteer the conversation with Mr Bush, even though Mr McClellan announced it at the start of his opening briefing of the day. Mr Blair did not refer to it when he spoke to reporters on his aircraft travelling to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nigeria.

However, a Downing Street official confirmed last night that the chat had occurred at about 1pm yesterday, after the Cabinet meeting and before Mr Blair left for the summit.

The reluctance to disclose the discussion suggests that it may have been difficult. But the official would only say: “It was a good discussion and the conversation continues.”

The issue is near the top of Mr Blair’s current agenda. The Prime Minister travels to Brussels next Thursday for a summit that will decide whether Europe is to have a new constitution, an issue linked to the EU defence initiative.

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Nato secretary general, who at the beginning of the week scarcely disguised criticism of the plans, said: “I am confident that the end result will avoid unnecessary duplication, and strengthen both the EU and Nato.”

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