Blair will meet with U.S. President Bush at the White House Tuesday after arriving Monday. His visit is part of a diplomatic dash around the globe to shore up support ahead of the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, from July 6-8, when leaders of the world's seven richest nations and Russia will discuss Britain's proposals on climate change and Africa.

After Washington, Blair will fly to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, and will later meet French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. During a visit to Rome last week, Blair won the backing of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who described the G8 plans as a "very reasonable, sound and viable set of proposals."

However pessimism is mounting that his efforts will prove futile in the face of U.S. views on the issue. Blair is seeking to persuade Bush to sign up to a new carbon emissions cap along with India, China and Brazil outside of the Kyoto Protocol, which Washington rejected four years ago. He also wants an agreement from Bush on the credibility of the science on climate change and increased investment in green technologies.

So far, however, the signs are that he may be heading for trouble.

Bush's chief climate change negotiator, Harlan Watson, told the BBC in May Washington would only accept one of Blair's three climate proposals at the summit.

The United States would not, as requested, acknowledge the credibility of science on climate change. The science was still uncertain and did not merit urgent action, Watson said.

Neither would the United States sign up to an international agreement on emissions reduction. Washington would only commit to investment in green technologies, a measure which Britain's chief scientific adviser Sir David King says is irresponsibly inadequate.

There was no hope of Blair persuading the U.S. president to change his mind, he added.

Blair is also set to face resistance on his agenda for Africa.

The prime minister's Commission for Africa has called for a tripling of aid, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is seeking to write off the debt owed by the poorest nations to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank.

John Snow, the U.S. treasury secretary, has said the administration will gladly write off the debts but that aid should be reduced accordingly. However Brown insists there should be additional money, and that debt relief should not be a case of"robbing Peter to pay Paul."

British government officials reportedly believe Washington is coming round to the concept of "additionality."

Last week's agreement among EU members to increase aid spending to 0.7 percent of gross domestic product by 2015 will also add pressure on Washington.

"The U.S. will not want to be isolated on this," one senior Whitehall official told the Times of London.

He added Washington was also aware that, if left unaided, poverty-stricken and failed African states would breed terrorism, threatening U.S. and global security.

Government sources told the Guardian newspaper in May they were not singling out the Bush administration on this issue, because the United States had increased aid for Africa and had set up the Millennium Challenge Account to provide financial support for countries making progress on corruption and good governance.

"The Americans deserve some credit. We hope he (Bush) can be persuaded to be inside the tent on this," one source said. "He should be with us in pushing for a global deal."

However though U.S. spending on overseas development aid is increasing, it is still lower than most of the world's developed nations. Although it is consistently the largest single aid contributor globally, in terms of a percentage of GDP, the United States ranked 21st worldwide in 2004, spending just 0.16 percent, according to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Persuading Bush to commit to a larger figure may not be within Blair's power, however. Washington has made clear it is not in favor of the "percentage point" approach to aid, and British government officials told the Times any agreement may be "big picture" rather than on specific numbers and targets.

A Downing Street official told United Press International the outcome of the talks could not be certain but Bush had made clear he was very much looking forward to them.

However some indication of their chance of success may be drawn to the London meeting this weekend of the G8 finance ministers, where Brown will be pushing the government's plans on aid, debt and trade reform.

Blair will no doubt use all the diplomatic charm at his disposal to garner support in Washington. He has staked a great deal of political capital on his G8 plans and failure will no doubt prompt his critics to highlight once again the one-way nature of his so-called "special relationship" with the U.S. president.

However should he fail to gain much movement on his G8 agenda, the pair will have plenty else to talk about.

A Downing Street official said: "This visit is partly an opportunity for the prime minister to speak personally with President Bush about securing the progress weneed to see on Africa and climate change at Gleneagles, just as he will be speaking to each of the other G8 leaders."

"They will also have a wide-ranging agenda of international issues to discuss, including how we support the new Iraqi Government in continuing democratic transition and the establishment of security forces, and reviewing progress on the Middle East peace process."

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