Tony Blair pledges not to distance himself from George Bush in an interview with the Independent today.

The prime minister dismissed "this idea that at the time of maximum difficulty you start messing around your main ally", adding: "I am afraid that is not what we are going to do."

However, the prime minister admits that he is "frustrated" that Iraq is overshadowing what he calls the government's significant achievements on the economy, jobs and public services.

"The most important thing is that we work with our coalition partners and sort it out, get the security situation right, so the Iraqis themselves are capable of doing the security, which is what they want to do," he said.

"If we succeed in that, that is a huge bonus for the security not just of the region but of the world."

He added that he would not "get into the business of seeing the relationship with America as a list of gains you have made. That is not the way I look at it."

However, the Guardian reports that the prime minister will try to be "less one dimensional" when he talks about Iraq, and that Labour is embarking on a "charm offensive" to woo the Democratic Party in the US - two signs that Labour may be trying to put some daylight between Blair and Bush.