LONDON, Aug 8: Frustration is fast growing among British ministers over the lack of a clear and coherent US policy towards Iraq.

The frustration is understood to extend to senior ministers and even Sir David Manning, the prime minister’s chief foreign policy adviser, The Daily Guardian said on Thursday.

The paper says that no coherent military or political strategy to oust Saddam Hussein has been presented to Downing Street, even though Britain is supposedly the closest ally of US President George Bush.

It says senior British ministers have privately admitted to growing exasperation across government over the US policy on Iraq.

The firm thinking of a group of influential ministers is that the US should make Israel, and not Iraq, its priority, a view widely shared across the Middle East.

“Anxiety in No 10 (premier’s residence) has been fuelled by the results of private polling commissioned by Tony Blair which it is understood confirms Mr Bush’s spectacular unpopularity among British voters.

But some ministers believe the prime minister may even have sanctioned the revelation of his private doubts when Jordan’s King Abdullah told reporters in Washington last week that Mr Blair had confided to him that he had “tremendous concerns” about an Iraq invasion.

The Guardian says there are speculations that the international development secretary, Clare Short, might quit over an invasion.