GEOFF HOON was frantically trying to repair relations with Washington yesterday after an interview appeared to show him calling for the removal of President Bush from power.

The Defence Secretary was quoted in Prospect magazine highlighting “major foreign policy disagreements” with the Republican president and declaring he would “of course prefer” a Democrat in the White House.

Mr Hoon later issued a statement saying: “I did not give an interview to Prospect. They are not my words.” Although the remarks were reproduced apparently verbatim in a question and answer format, he said the entire interview had been made up by two advisers without his approval.

A spate of reports this week has suggested that cracks are appearing in the Atlantic alliance. Washington is said to be less concerned than Mr Blair about the need for a second UN resolution, as well as frustated that Britain’s insistence on exhausting the diplomatic process has delayed war by several months.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, told a press conference on Tuesday that America was ready to go to war alone if Tony Blair failed to secure the political support needed for military action. His comments infuriated Downing Street which feared it would encorage wavering Labour MPs to oppose war.

However, Mr Rumsfeld is known to have appeared at the press conference shortly after a telephone conversation with Mr Hoon in which it is said that they discussed British trrops playing a “non-combat role”.

Mr Rumsfeld, described by one Whitehall official as “someone who shoots from the lip”, was reported yesterday to have told Mr Hoon that he “messed up” in making previous remarks branding France and Germany as “old Europe”.

In February, Mr Hoon faced criticism for taking a skiiing holiday with his family while British troops were being deployed for war.

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