Colin Powell Resigns

The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has resigned from the cabinet of President George Bush, the White House confirmed today.

Mr Powell submitted his letter of resignation to the president on Friday and today told about 20 of his staff of his plan to depart, according to senior White House sources.

He will go about his usual schedule - which continues later today with a meeting with the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom - until a successor is named and in place, a senior administration source said.

His resignation was expected to be announced later today. "I do expect some announcements shortly regarding members of the cabinet," the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, told reporters.

Mr Powell is the highest-level official to quit since Mr Bush won re-election, and one of four cabinet members whose resignations were reported today. The three others were Ann Venneman, the agriculture secretary, Rod Paige, the education secretary, and Spencer Abraham, the energy secretary.

Last week saw the resignations of the attorney general, John Ashcroft, and Donald Evans, the commerce secretary. The changes come as Mr Bush embarks on a cabinet reshuffle at the start of his second term in the White House.

It is understood that Mr Powell's departure date will be in early 2005 - but it was not immediately clear whether he will leave before Mr Bush's second inauguration on January 20.

Speculation over possible successors to Mr Powell was centred on the US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Mr Powell has had a controversial tenure as head of the state department, reportedly differing on key issues with the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

Despite his popularity with foreign statesmen and women, Mr Powell will be remembered for presenting flawed evidence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations when he made the case for war on behalf of the Bush administration.

Aides close to the secretary of state had indicated in recent months that he would not stay through a second Bush term, and he did not seek to dispel mounting speculation over his possible departure.

His resignation comes just days after he was given a key role in the US diplomatic push to help Palestinians hold elections on a successor to Yasser Arafat.

Mr Powell is expected to visit the West Bank next week for talks with the Palestinian caretaker leadership, according to the Palestinian officials. There has been no official confirmation of the trip from the White House, however.