Guardian: Blair tells Bush US must back reformed UN

Blair tells Bush US must back reformed UN

PM attempts to steer White House towards shift in foreign policy

Julian Borger in Washington, Martin Kettle and Will Woodward
Friday May 26, 2006
The Guardian

Tony Blair will today call for a return to a multilateral approach
to global affairs built around a radically reformed United Nations
led by a powerful secretary general, in a bid to salvage his legacy
as a progressive leader on the world stage.

In a foreign policy address at Georgetown University, Mr Blair will
put forward the case for "values based interventionism" in the name
of democracy and human rights and the reinvigoration of the UN and
other institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
the World Bank.

Standing alongside President Bush at a White House press conference
last night, in what is bound to be one of the two leaders' last summits,
Mr Blair portrayed UN reform as a path towards faster intervention
by the international community in response to threats to global security.

He said: "What we want to do is to make sure the UN is an effective
instrument for multilateral action."