Whitehall push for more Iraq contracts

FOREIGN Office and Trade Minister Mike O'Brien will press the Bush Administration today to get a better deal for British companies over contracts to rebuild Iraq.

So far, all contracts in Iraq have gone to US companies with subsidiaries of Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's old firm, taking the lion's share.

In a speech to a London conference on Iraq reconstruction, O'Brien is expected to argue that greater participation by UK firms would benefit not only Britain, but the Iraqi people.

'It is in the best interests of Iraqi people that British firms are involved because our companies rank among the best in the world,' he says in an advance copy of the speech.

The speech comes just days after the US promised fair competition for at least 25 Iraq contracts worth more than $18.7bn (£11.06bn) up for grabs, although it has made it clear that it will only consider bids from countries that supported the war effort.