Embattled prime minister Tony Blair was given a boost today when his leadership was likened to predecessor Sir Winston Churchill’s during World War Two.

US president George W Bush said Mr Blair’s style of leadership was imbued with the “spirit” of the famous wartime leader.

Mr Bush in a speech to mark the opening of a US Library of Congress exhibition on the late British leader said: “In his determination to do the right thing and not the easy thing, I see the spirit of Churchill in prime minister Tony Blair.”

Mr Bush suggested he and Mr Blair would be vindicated over claims that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

“History has been kind to Winston Churchill, as it usually is to those who help to save the world,” he said.

“And a sense of fellowship and common purpose between our two nations continues to this day. I’ve also been privileged to know a find a fine British leader, a man of conscience, and unshakable determination,” said Mr Bush.

The US premier added that his country was ensnaring terrorists in a “closing net of doom.”

“The outcome of the war on terror depends on our ability to see danger and to answer it with strength and purpose. One by one, we are finding and dealing with the terrorists, drawing tight what Winston Churchill called a ‘closing net of doom,” the president said.

Sir Winston was prime minister during 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955. He died in 1965.