U.S. fears pullout of British troops by Blair successor

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U.S. officials are bracing for the prospect that Gordon Brown -- Tony Blair's almost certain successor as British prime minister -- will act quickly to reduce his country's military commitment in Iraq.

President Bush has been briefed by White House officials to expect an announcement from Mr. Brown during his first 100 days in power on British troop withdrawals. Such a move would be designed to boost the new prime minister's popularity in opinion polls.

Mr. Bush recently discussed with a senior White House adviser how to handle the fallout if the U.S. were to lose its main ally in Iraq.

A source close to Mr. Brown insisted that such U.S. fears are "unfounded."

"Gordon is a committed Atlanticist who wants to strengthen and deepen our ties with America around our shared values, and who wants to persuade the rest of Europe to work in closer cooperation with America," he said.

Mr. Brown, speaking at a Labor Party event yesterday, defended the decision to go to war in Iraq but seemed to leave the door open to reassessing the extent of Britain's commitment.

"The number of troops that started off was 44,000, and there are now just 7,000, and that number continues to go down," he said in response to shouts of "Get the troops out."

"I am going to go out to Iraq and look at the situation and see what is happening," Mr. Brown said.

A close ally of Mr. Brown called over the weekend for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq more quickly.

"We should get out of Iraq as soon as is practicable," said Nigel Griffiths, a former Cabinet minister, who resigned as deputy speaker of the House of Commons over a decision to replace the Trident nuclear-weapons system.