Brown urged to tell US general that Britain is pulling out of Iraq

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Britain's military commitment to Iraq will come under the spotlight today when Gordon Brown holds talks with senior US military and diplomatic figures.

America's military commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and its ambassador to the country Ryan Crocker are both due at Downing Street.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell urged Mr Brown to tell the US British troops would be pulled out entirely.

"The PM should tell General Petraeus that Britain has fulfilled its moral obligation to Iraq and that our continued presence neither meets military purposes nor political objectives," he said.

It comes a week after the general delivered an upbeat assessment of the impact of the Pentagon's "surge" tactic and suggested some US troops could now be withdrawn.

President George Bush responded by announcing that more than 5,000 would be brought home by Christmas, with 30,000 of the 168,000 expected back by next summer.

Mr Brown and Mr Bush held a lengthy video conference on the issue last week, with the talks described as "very cordial and constructive".

But the PM has stressed that the UK will make its own decisions on the future size and strength of British forces on the basis of "conditions on the ground".

There are around 5,500 still in the country, all now based at Basra Airport, and Mr Brown is expected to outline his strategy to MPs when Parliament returns next month.

The talks come amid the recent redeployment of British forces from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a "proxy war". The operation is regarded as a high-risk strategy which could lead to clashes with Iranian-backed Shia militias or even Iranian forces and also leaves open the possibility of Iranian retaliation in the form of attacks against British forces at the Basra air base or inciting violence to draw them back into Basra city. Relations between the two countries are already fraught after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized a British naval party in the Gulf earlier this year.

For the British military the move to the border is a change of policy. They had stopped patrols along the long border at Maysan despite US concerns at the time that the area would become a conduit for weapons into Iraq.

The decision to return to the frontier has been heavily influenced by the highly charged and very public dispute with the United States. British commanders feel that they cannot turn down the fresh American request for help after refusing to delay the withdrawal from Basra Palace.

Responding to the President's announcement of troop withdrawals, he said: "Like America, Britain will discharge our duties to the Iraqi people, to our allies and to the international community.

"Decisions on the future size and strength of our forces on the ground in Iraq will continue to depend on conditions on the ground."

A news conference is expected to be held this afternoon after the PM meets with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.