A US State Department official was facing disciplinary action yesterday for saying that Britain was routinely ignored in a “totally one-sided” relationship with America.

The remarks, made by Kendall Myers, prompted a letter to The Times today in which Robert Tuttle, the US Ambassador to London and a close friend of President Bush, insists that the US-UK relationship “will not be weakened by the careless remarks of a single individual”. He adds: “The individual views aired by Kendall Myers in no way reflect the views of the US Government; his inaccurate and ill-advised statements are not a reflection of US government opinion or policy.

“Why he chose to air these views in a public forum is a question only he can answer.”

Downing Street suggested that Dr Myers should resign as a senior analyst at the State Department, where he has worked for about 30 years, after his remarks were reported by The Times yesterday.

The State Department’s daily press conference yesterday was dominated by questions about Dr Myers, who has told colleagues that he is considering early retirement. Tom Casey, a spokesman, criticised the analyst’s opinions, saying: “I want to make clear he does not make policy either on the UK or other issues, and certainly doesn’t have a significant input into foreign policy formulation. We repudiate and disassociate ourselves from those comments. The comments, frankly, I think could be described as ill-informed, and I think from our perspective plain wrong.”

A senior State Department source went further, yesterday,saying that Mr Myers had broken “rule No 1” by expressing his private opinions in public. “I think you can imagine the first conversation Dr Myers had with his boss was not a very pleasant one,” he added.

Mr Tuttle’s letter says that the US-UK relationship was “forged in the ashes” of the War of Independence, emphasises the countries’ shared love of libertyand that the “close ties between our two governments have, for nearly 200 years, been reflected in the enduring ties between the British and American people”.

“The American Administration and the American people realise that they have no better friend in the world than the British people.”

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