Blair at odds with Bush over cloning vote and condoms to beat Aids

Tony Blair is at loggerheads with George Bush over two main parts of the President's social policy, as the two countries prepared to clash over a United Nations vote on human cloning.

Tony Blair is at loggerheads with George Bush over two main parts of the President's social policy, as the two countries prepared to clash over a United Nations vote on human cloning.

John Reid, the Secretary of State for Health, attacked the Bush administration for pushing a ban on therapeutic cloning before a UN vote on proposals for a worldwide ban all types of the practice.

Ministers are also furious over the Bush administration's continuing refusal to release million of dollars for UN programmes to fund free condoms for the Third World, the main measure designed to prevent deaths in pregnancy and halt the spread of Aids.

Dr Reid hit out the day after President Bush's adviser on medical ethics accused Britain of crossing a moral boundary by allowing therapeutic cloning to harvest stem cells that scientists believe may hold the key to treating diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Dr Reid insisted that Britain was working to promote a global ban on reproductive cloning that aims to create human life.

He said: "But we will not support any moves to ban therapeutic cloning because we believe it offers huge potential to develop new cures for life threatening diseases which blight the lives of millions.

"The UK is totally opposed to reproductive cloning. We are working at the UN to achieve an effective world wide ban."