Schröder Seeks Blair's Help in Making Up With Washington

The newly re-elected German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, flew to London last night for urgent talks with Tony Blair on how to repair Berlin's stricken relationship with the United States.

A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Schröder asked for the meeting when Mr Blair rang him on Sunday night to congratulate him on his election victory.

In the chancellor's second attempt in two days to mollify a furiously angry White House, his defence minister, Peter Struck, announced at the Nato meeting in Warsaw that Germany and the Netherlands were ready to take command of the international security assistance force in Kabul when Turkey's term runs out at the end of the year.

The US is keen to see its European allies take on such roles to spread military commitments more evenly.

On Monday, Mr Schröder said one of his ministers had resigned after reportedly comparing President George Bush's tactics in respect of Iraq to Adolf Hitler's. The accusation enraged the White House, already angry at the chancellor for basing his election campain largely on opposition to what he termed would be a military "adventure" in Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice, the president's security adviser, said relations with Germany had been "poisoned": a term repeated by the defence secre tary, Donald Rumsfeld, at the Nato meeting on Monday.

The German ambassador to London, Thomas Matussek, hinted at a way forward yesterday when he said that Berlin's support for action against Saddam Hussein would depend on the wording of any UN resolution on Iraq. During the election campaign, Mr Schröder ruled out participation in an attack, even if it had the blessing of the UN.

The chancellor's trip to London was highly unusual on at least two counts. Newly re-elected leaders normally wait until they have formed a government before setting off abroad. And, in the case of German chancellors, the first visit is customarily to the French president.

Last night's dash to Westminster underlined the degree to which the old Franco-German axis has been supplanted at the heart of Europe, and also the personal warmth between the two leaders. But above all it highlighted the alarm felt in Berlin at the way in which an apparent electoral ploy got out of hand.

Though he can continue to proffer olive branches in other areas, Mr Schröder's room for manoeuvre on the Iraq issue has been sharply circumscribed by the outcome of Sunday's election. Voters handed him a parliamentary majority of nine, which makes his government crucially dependent on disciplined voting by the pacifist Greens. A revolt by just five of its 55 MPs could pull the rug from under him.

Yesterday brought fresh evidence of the US's continuing anger. Mr Rumsfeld failed to speak to Mr Struck at a Nato photo shoot, even though he was standing near him.

Mr Struck played down the differences. "Yesterday I shook Rumsfeld's hand," he insisted. "But this has to become more intensive. I think we'll return to a very normal working relationship, slowly but surely."

In an interview broadcast by the BBC, Mr Matussek stressed Berlin's support for the war on terrorism. "Tony Blair said two days ago: 'There may well be differences of opinion but I have no doubt that in the end we will all act closely, jointly linked. I think this is what is going to happen."