LONDON, Nov 13 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush is to come to Britain next February, when he will also travel to Brussels for talks with European Union and NATO officials, two newspapers in London reported Sunday.
His trip would come just three months before an expected general election in Britain, which Blair hopes will give his Labour Party a third straight term in office, the Sunday Times and the News of the World said.
The Sunday Times added that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw would go to Israel next week "to meet key members of (prime minister) Ariel Sharon's government".
Blair was in Washington Thursday and Friday to see the president, becoming the first foreign government leader to visit the White House since Bush won re-election earlier this month.
Their talks were dominated by prospects for a renewed quest for Middle East peace after the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as well as by developments in Iraq.
Bush -- who in November 2004 became the first US president ever to pay a full-dress state visit to London -- also conferred with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Washington this past week.
Bush already has plans to come to Britain in August next year for the annual summit of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, to be held in the Scottish golfing resort of Gleneagles.
11/13/2004 23:01 GMT - AFP