By Mark Joyce, For The Straits Times
LONDON - DESPITE a drop in popularity ratings as a result of Britain's military involvement in Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair is not showing any intentions of distancing himself from Washington during his final months in office.
If leaks from the heart of government are to be believed, Mr Blair is preparing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States one more time, whether the US wants him to or not - a move that could well spark a political storm.
According to a report in the Economist magazine, Mr Blair is bidding for the United Kingdom to host part of the US missile defence shield in Europe.
Sources at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official London residence, told the magazine that Mr Blair has been discreetly waging a campaign since last year to secure a missile-interceptor site for the UK.
Mr Blair is said to have conducted the lobbying in person, apparently convinced that the missile defence technology now works.
This has been criticised by most European governments as excessively expensive, technologically unreliable and politically destabilising.
But Mr Blair believes that hosting the interceptors would make Britain as well as the US more secure.
Downing Street confirmed that the government had been in talks with the US over the possibility of hosting part of the controversial 'Son of Star Wars' system on British soil.
A spokesman emphasised that the talks were at an early stage and claimed that the government's intention was only to be kept in consideration as the US develops its plans for the system.
American military commanders have stated the need for a missile base in Europe to help protect the US from the potential threat of long-range missiles launched from the Middle East.
Although the UK has been closely involved in missile defence since early in the project's development, US attention has recently shifted to Eastern Europe.
Poland and the Czech Republic are in advanced talks with the US Department of Defence and have already offered locations for elements of the interception system.
But according to Mr Andrew Brookes, a military technology analyst at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, Mr Blair risks courting controversy at a time when the technology remains unproven.
'If it's true that the Blair administration has offered this then I am baffled,' he said.
'Why not wait until it's working before getting all the political downsides of something that is not ready to deploy? I do not know how he thinks but I can only imagine that this is part of Mr Blair's attempt to leave a global security legacy.'
But despite Mr Blair's resolution on the issue, he may find his ambitions checked by a lukewarm response in Washington.
In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Lieutenant-General Trey Obering, head of the US Missile Defence Agency, said the Pentagon had looked at the UK as a possible site for interceptors before choosing Poland.
'Certainly, the UK could be a viable location for the interceptors, but it is not the optimum location,' said Lt-Gen Obering.
But he said the US was 'still very much open' to British participation in the project.
Time, however, is against the British Prime Minister, for the US is keen to begin constructing a European missile site next year, with a view to making it operational in 2012.
If Mr Blair succeeds in establishing Britain at the centre of the missile defence system, the close US-British relationship in the defence and security field will be more likely to endure beyond his time in office.
If he fails, the stage may be set for his successor to map a different policy direction.
