President George W Bush has used a set piece address during his state visit to declare that British and American people are united in an "alliance of values".
Mr Bush addressed the Banqueting House in Whitehall after he was formally welcomed at the start of his three-day visit to Britain by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace this morning.
In a wide-ranging speech Mr Bush praised Britain's historical friendship with America, saying the countries shared a common heritage of free trade and the protection of the weak.
"The fellowship of generations is the cause of common beliefs. We believe in open societies ordered by moral conviction," he said.
"We believe in private markets humanised by compassionate government. We believe in economies that reward effort, communities that protect the weak, and the duty of nations to respect the rights and dignity of all."
Mr Bush said Britain and America's foreign policies were guided by the "deepest beliefs" in the value of civil and human rights.
He defended the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and the wider battle against terrorism, pledging that America would not withdraw from either country until democracy was secure.
Recent terrorist attacks, including those in Baghdad and Istanbul last week, showed that terrorists wanted "to intimidate and demoralise all who oppose them".
"These terrorists target the innocent and kill by the thousands," he said. "The greatest threat of our age is nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in the hands of terrorists and the dictators who aid them. The evil is in plain sight. The danger only increases with denial."
Mr Bush praised the principles championed by Woodrow Wilson, the last American president to stay at Buckingham Palace, but lamented the failure of the League of Nations to stand up to dictators such as Hitler.
He then urged the United Nations not make the same mistakes, warning that the threat of terrorism "demands a global response".
America and Britain would do their utmost to stop the UN "solemnly choosing its own irrelevance and inviting the fate of the League of Nations,",he said.
But the UN needed to confront threats to global security with more than resolutions. "We must meet those dangers with resolve," he said.
He added that the war in Iraq had only been launched after Saddam Hussein had diplomatic demands to disarm. "Who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing or that the world was safer when he held power?" Mr Bush asked.
Mr Bush also set out his plans for a "democratic revolution" in the Middle East and admitted America's mistakes by saying it was time for the West to be more critical of undemocratic regimes.
"We must shake off decades of failed policy in the Middle East," he said. "We cannot turn a blind eye to oppression just because the oppression is not in our own backyard. No longer should we think tyranny is benign because it is temporarily convenient."
