Britain and France were embroiled in a new row about Iraq tonight at the European Union summit in Brussels.
A war over words broke out when the French insisted on dropping from a new EU resolution on the crisis any reference to UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to that - but he put his foot down when French President Mr Chirac also tried to remove a paragraph reaffirming that the EU's objective remained Iraq's "full and effective" disarmament.
Backed by Spain and Austria, Mr Blair said the words were staying in - and they did.
To appease Mr Chirac the sensitive words were moved further down the text, and tonight the Prime Minister's official spokesman refused to confirm whether Mr Blair and President Chirac had spoken to each other at all during an hour-long pre-dinner meeting to hammer out the declaration.
"The Prime Minister was in the presence of Mr Chirac - I won't reduce this to personalities," he said.
He insisted there was "a lot of support" for the UK's position on Iraq, and emphasised that the French refusal to countenance any reference to 1441 did not square with the country's agreement to the resolution in the first place.
The final EU declaration tonight left Mr Blair content because it stated that the transatlantic partnerships remained a "fundamental strategic priority" for the EU.
It said the United Nations must continue to play a central role during and after the current crisis.
And it called on the European Commission and the EU's foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana "to explore means by which the EU might help the Iraqi people to achieve the objectives of living in freedom, dignity and prosperity under a representative government".
And - despite President Chirac's best efforts - the final text "recalls that the EU's objective remains Iraq's full and effective disarmament".
PA