Labour MP Harry Cohen was quoted by The Independent earlier as saying that, in a private meeting with Labour MPs, British deputy prime minister John Prescott, gave vent to his true feelings about the American Presidnet George W. Bush, criticizing his policies and summing up his administration in a single word: “crap”.

"He was talking in the context of the 'Road Map' in the Middle East," Cohen said. "He said he only gave support to the war on Iraq because they promised the 'Road Map'. "But he said the Bush administration had been crap on that. We all laughed and he said to an official: 'Don't minute that'." "We also had a laugh when he said old Bush is just a cowboy with his Stetson on. But then he said: 'I can hardly talk about that, can I?'."

UK’s The Guardian said that the revelation will disappoint the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the U.S. president's key international ally. But Prescott, previously accused of making public his feelings about the Republican administration in the White House, denied that he had called President Bush "crap" and "a cowboy."

But Mr. Cohen on the other hand insisted that Prescott, known to have used the word "crap" in relation to political events in the past, definitely used the word "crap" in criticizing Bush’s policies. In a statement, Prescott said: "This is an inaccurate report of a private conversation and it is not my view." In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow downplayed the remarks. Bush "talks regularly with Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is the prime minister. So I will restrict my comments to the prime minister." The president has "been called a lot worse and, I suspect, will be. And there will be piquant names, sort of, hurled his way from time to time, but, you know, that's part of the burden of leadership."

If it was proven that Prescott did make those remarks about the American President to criticize his policies in the Middle East, this would cause a diplomatic row between the two allies, the U.S. and Britain.

The private meeting during which Prescott is said to have made his remarks was at his Whitehall office in which he met with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing Muslim communities, who wanted express their opposition to the UK’s government policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim world.

But the Muslim MPs who were present at the meeting said they could not remember Prescott making those remarks as reported by The Independent, which in its editorials regularly condemns U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Cohen, whose constituency includes Walthamstow, scene of some of the police raids in the alleged "terror plot" investigation said that Mr. Prescott "was talking in the context of the 'Road Map' in the Middle East,” adding that “he gave support to the war on Iraq because they were promised the 'Road Map' . But he said the Bush administration had been crap on that. We all laughed and he said to an official, 'Don't minute that'." Cohen added: "We also had a laugh when he said old Bush is just a cowboy with his Stetson on. But then he said, 'I can hardly talk about that can I?'

The support of the British and the U.S. governments to Israel in its recent aggression against the Lebanese territories, which resulted in the death of over 1,400 innocent civilians, has angered many Labour MPs, who went to meet with Prescott to lodge their criticism of the Government's foreign policy, especially towards the Middle East and the Muslim world.

The Deputy Prime Minister stated he had made clear he strongly supports what he described as Blair’s efforts to persuade the American President to revive the 'Road Map', a plan said to be aimed at resolving the long standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations, and first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with the Israeli state. "There was a very robust exchange of views," said the MP. "We had a row about community relations. The Deputy Prime Minister was told in no uncertain terms that the Government was relying too much on the elders in the Muslim community who didn't have the credibility that was needed."

Muslim Labour MPs discussed with Prescott the urgent need to retain their credibility within their communities- one of the reasons that prompted them send an open letter to Mr. Blair, urging him change his foreign policy. (Source: ALjazeera.com)