Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush are to visit Libya in the New Year, according to Colonel Kadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam.

“The British premier will visit Tripoli at the beginning of next year, followed by a visit by US President George Bush,” Kadhafi junior told the Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Libya gained international respect recently for announcing plans to destroy all its weapons of mass destruction, and Seif al-Islam said he did not expect the US trade embargo to last much longer than three months.

Seif al-Islam told the paper that Mr Bush will visit the north African country shortly after Mr Blair when “the American embargo is raised”.

On Tuesday Libya’s official JANA news agency reported that foreign minister Jack Straw had invited his Libyan counterpart Abderrhmane Chalgam to visit London.

Regarding the report on a visit by Mr Chalgam, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “No decision has been taken. We will be looking at the matter in the New Year.”