UPDATE 1-Britain talks to U.S. about missile system role

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By Adrian Croft

Britain is talking to the United States about participating in a U.S. plan for a missile defence shield, the government said on Friday.

Officials would not confirm the details of a report in the Economist magazine that Prime Minister Tony Blair was lobbying to secure a missile-interceptor site for Britain.

But a spokeswoman for Blair did say Britain had held talks "at various levels" with the United States on providing additional British support for the planned system, which would use interceptors to destroy incoming ballistic missiles.

"The discussions ... are at an early stage," she said, adding that no decisions had been made on whether any part of the system would be based in Britain or where it might be based.

Britain would like Europe, as well as the United States, covered by the anti-missile umbrella, another government spokesman said.

The U.S. system is aimed at stopping missiles fired by what Washington calls "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.

A decision to base the interceptors in Britain would be controversial and expose Blair to more criticism from political opponents that he is too close to Washington.

U.S plants to put a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile battery in Poland have already caused tension with Moscow which sees the plan as a threat to its national security.

Women campaigners held anti-nuclear protests against the deployment of U.S. nuclear missiles at Greenham Common air base in southern England for 19 years until 2000.

The deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in London, David Johnson, told the BBC the U.S. administration was concentrating at the moment on the Czech Republic and Poland as the primary sites for siting elements of the missile system.

But in a later statement, he said: "We have been and will be in discussions with the British government as we develop our missile defense system and be open to opportunities for joint work as we go forward."

ON THE FRONT LINE

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) condemned any British involvement, saying the system would enable the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation.

"This puts the people of Britain at risk -- indeed it puts them on the front line in a future war," CND Chair Kate Hudson said in a statement.

Nick Harvey, defence spokesman of the opposition Liberal Democrats, accused Blair -- expected to step down in July after a decade in office -- of being in a desperate rush to hurry through vital security decisions behind closed doors.

"It is time that the government started putting the British national interest before the interests of the arms industry and the United States," he said in a statement.

Britain agreed in 2003 to a U.S. request to upgrade early warning radar systems at the Fylingdales air base in northern England to allow the missile defence programme to go ahead.

The Ministry of Defence said British officials were working with the United States and NATO to understand the "political and operational implications" of the missile defence system and to assess the feasibility of the technology involved.

Britain had made no decision whether to acquire a missile defence capability and the United States had not asked for any further British participation in its system, it said. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Lovell) ((Editing by Richard Balmforth; London newsroom, Reuters Messaging: adrian.croft.reuters.com@reuters.net +44 207 542 7947))

Keywords: BRITAIN MISSILES/

[LONDON/Reuters/Finance.cz]