The former US president Jimmy Carter today retracted a comment that President Bush’s administration has been the “worst in history" for its impact around the world.

Speaking on the NBC television show Today, Mr Carter said that his words were “careless or misinterpreted".

The veteran Democrat politician turned peace campaigner made the offending remark in a statement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.

“I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history,” Mr Carter was reported as saying, in a story published in the Saturday edition of the newspaper.

“The overt reversal of America’s basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me.”

After the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story appeared, Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo had confirmed his comments to The Associated Press.

Today, however, the 82-year-old Nobel peace laureate appeared to be rowing back from such outspoken criticism. He said that he had been responding to a question comparing the Bush Administration’s foreign policy to that of President Richard Nixon.

“And I think Richard Nixon had a very good and productive foreign policy and my remarks were maybe careless or misinterpreted. But I wasn’t comparing the overall administration and I was certainly not talking personally about any president,” Mr Carter said.

Pressed on how he did rate Mr Bush's foreign policy, he conceded: “I think this administration’s foreign policy compared to President Nixon’s was much worse.”

But he said he did not mean to call it the worst in history. “No, that’s not what I wanted to say. I wasn’t comparing this administration with other administrations back through history, but just with President Nixon.”

Mr Carter said he has not been timid about sharing his opinions directly with the president and other world leaders, but said he has been careful not to level personal criticism against Mr Bush.

After his most recent trip to the Middle East, where he monitored Palestinian elections, Mr Carter said, “I came back from the Middle East and went directly to the Oval Office. I had a long and extensive conversation with President Bush about the absence of any peace talks and to give him a description of what was happening in Palestine in my opinion.”

He added, “I was very pleased when President Bush told me the top foreign policy priority for the administration in the remaining months would be peace in the Middle East.”

The White House yesterday dismissed Mr Carter as “increasingly irrelevant".

In response, Mr Carter said: “Well, I don’t claim to have any relevancy. I have a completely unofficial capacity. The only thing I lead is the Carter Center. We’ve never claimed to have any authority. It’s just a non-governmental organisation.”

Born James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr on October 1 1924, the submariner, peanut farmer and nuclear engineer was the 39th US President from 1977 to 1981. He lost the White House to Ronald Reagan after only one term in office, amid widespread public opinion that he had mishandled the Iranian hostage crisis.

After leaving power, Carter founded the Carter Center to promote global health, democracy and human rights. He has travelled extensively to monitor international elections, conduct peace negotiations and establish relief efforts.

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found