Straw accused of 'mocking' Bush

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

LONDON, England -- UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been accused of "mocking" U.S. President George Bush.

Two leading national newspapers made the accusation over Straw's interpretation of Bush's State of the Union address in which he warned of the danger posed by so-called rogue states.

In his speech, Bush said that states such as North Korea, Iraq and Iran formed an "axis of evil" against which the West must guard itself.

Straw, who is in Washington, suggested that he believed the President's words to be pre-election political rhetoric rather than a genuine warning about a serious threat.

Speaking after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Straw said Bush's comments were "best understood by the fact that there are mid-term congressional elections coming up in November."

In a front-page report on Saturday, the London-based Daily Telegraph said that Straw had "mocked" the President, while The Times described his comments as "a putdown."

The Telegraph quoted an unnamed "Bush administration source" as saying that Straw's remark was "inappropriate."

A Foreign Office spokesman told the Press Association that Straw's words could "speak for themselves."