Five days after accidentally peppering a friend with birdshot, Dick Cheney today finally agreed to break his silence over the hunting mishap which has transfixed America.

Mr Cheney will address the nation in a pre-recorded interview to be broadcast on Fox News at 6pm EST (2300GMT). It will be, according to one senior Republican, his first press conference since 2002.

The Vice President has not spoken publicly about the accident at a south Texas ranch in which Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Republican judge, was struck in the face neck and chest with birdshot.

At first Mr Whittington appeared to be recovering well, but his health - and the pressure surrounding Mr Cheney - yesterday took a turn for the worse when the victim suffered a minor heart attack, after one of the pellets lodged inside him reached his heart, restricting blood flow.

The interview is an indication of the growing political and public pressure building on Mr Cheney, who is famously reluctant to speak to the media. Although he professes to be untroubled by his own public profile, critics have warned that the controversy is now tarnishing the President.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, yesterday tried unsuccessfully to deflect the simmering row with humour, suggesting that the bright orange school colours of a Texas football team visiting the White House might be confused for hunter’s safety wear.

“The orange that they’re wearing is not because they’re concerned that the Vice President may be there,” joked Mr McClellan.

Today the Press Secretary was playing things straighter. "(The interview) is an opportunity for the Vice President to talk about the questions relating to this issue and also to talk about his concern for his friend," he announced.

Before Mr Cheney’s interview plans were disclosed, Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, demanded that the he "come clean".

"We have to break this habit of the administration, of closed government without the openness that is healthy to a democracy," she said.

A number of President Bush’s fellow Republicans have also privately urged Mr Cheney to break his silence.

"I think Cheney operates in his own world and really doesn’t care what the press and the public think about him because he’s serving the president. But in this case, the strategy is beginning to damage the president," a prominent Republican in Washington told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

In a break from usual White House protocol, the shooting was not revealed until almost 24 hours later when Katharine Armstrong, who owns the ranch, reported it to the local Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The failure to disclose the accident touched off a political furore as reporters and Democrats claimed that the administration was mounting a cover up.

Mr Whittington, a Republican stalwart, was struck by up to 200 pellets when Mr Cheney, hunting on a south Texas ranch, swung around to fire at a covey of quail and missed. Doctors remain optimistic about his recovery, but said he must stay in hospital another week.

They were due to give an update on his condition at 6pm EST (2300 GMT). His health could have an impact on whether Cheney faces more significant legal repercussions.

Local authorities have said so far that the shooting was simply an accident with no misconduct involved. But if Mr Whittington were to die, local district attorney Carlos Valdez said that there would be a more extensive inquiry, including possibly a grand jury investigation

Tom Baldwin, correspondent for The Times in Washington, said the fact that Mr Cheney had decided to address the public was perhaps of more significance that anything he would say.

He said: "Mr Cheney is extremely secretive in his nature and in his practices as Vice President. He resents any intrusion into his private affairs, whether that be talks with energy lobbies, hunting trips with Supreme Court justices or business dealings.

"But the welter of criticism he has faced over this hunting accident has reinforced the impression not only outside Washington but also in the Whitehouse, that Mr Cheney is something of a public relations disaster area.

"He could have handled this whole situation far, far better if he had not been operating as a semi-autonomous unit which even Mr Bush's aides dare not get too close to. It has taken him several days to say anything at all about this, and most people in Washington will think that whatever he says today will be somewhat overdue."

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