The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, London

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama arrived in London Friday, the last scheduled stop on a world tour aimed at boosting his foreign policy credentials before elections later this year.

The Democratic Party senator touched down from Paris, where he held talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, praising him for his more pro-American stance and France's military efforts in Afghanistan.

In the British capital, he will meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his predecessor Tony Blair-now the international community's Middle East envoy-and the leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron.

Obama, his then-rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, and the Republican Party candidate, John McCain, met Brown in Washington when he visited in April. Brown previously met McCain in London in March.

Unlike Obama's visit to Berlin, where he addressed a 200,000-strong crowd, the British leg of his tour will be mostly behind closed doors.

Protocol dictates that Brown will not appear with Obama on the steps of 10 Downing Street, as he did not do the same for McCain. Photographs will be taken inside the building before Obama addresses the media outside.

He will meet Cameron-tipped to be Britain's next prime minister, as Brown's government falters in the opinion polls and at the ballot box, sparking calls for a leadership contest-at his office in parliament.

Obama's popularity with European voters has also been seen in Britain, where a recent newspaper poll suggested Britons favour him to McCain for the presidency by five to one.

Friday's Daily Mirror headlined a front-page story on his Berlin speech "Obamamania!" He also made the front pages of six other national newspapers.

Likely topics for discussion include Iraq and Afghanistan, where British troops are fighting alongside their US counterparts, and the Middle East. Like Obama, Brown has recently visited Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Brown will doubtless be encouraged by Obama's call for a more multilateral approach to US foreign policy, as he has pushed a similar line. He also wants troop reductions in Iraq and reinforcements from NATO countries in Afghanistan.

Earlier Friday, Obama signalled his appreciation for a warming of US-French relations that were hit by former president Jacques Chirac's opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"He has been a great leader on this, and the American people greatly appreciate President Sarkozy's approach to the relationship," Obama said at a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace.

"I think the average American has enormous fondness for the French people," he added, despite perceptions among the US electorate that an affinity for France harms a candidate's chances.

Obama also said he was grateful for the French troop presence in Afghanistan and Sarkozy's willingness to send more, describing his decision as "courageous". France recently committed 700 extra troops to the NATO force.

In Berlin Thursday, he urged other NATO members to do the same, although Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom he met earlier in the day, has expressed her opposition to sending more German troops to Afghanistan.

Britain-the United States' closest ally in its "war on terror"-has also called for its NATO allies to shoulder more of the burden, amid rising numbers of fatalities against the extremist Taliban in Afghanistan.

Repairing US-European relations was a theme of Obama's Berlin speech, where he said "the walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand."

"The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand.

"These now are the walls we must tear down," he said, echoing ex-US president Ronald Reagan's 1987 for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

Obama, 46, is the favourite to win the election. A Fox News poll on Thursday suggested that 51 percent of Americans believe he will triumph, with only 27 percent betting on 71-year-old McCain.

McCain, a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war who has long been an influential voice on foreign policy and defence, took a swipe at his rival on Thursday, visiting a German sausage restaurant in Ohio.

He said he would love to give a speech in Berlin, but only as president.