A shiver runs round the world as Bush bangs the drum for 'fire of freedom'

• Bush vows to help spread liberty around the world in inauguration address

• Regimes who oppress their people 'will no longer be tolerated'

• Bush address fails to convince allies of more multilateralist approach

Key quote

"We are led, by events and commonsense, to one conclusion: the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands" - President Bush

Story in full GEORGE Bush yesterday used his second inauguration as United States president to promise to bring the "untamed fire of freedom to the darkest corners of the world" and raise the prospect of a new US effort to topple oppressive regimes the world over.

In a speech certain to alarm Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia - and discomfort Europeans uneasy about the unbridled exercise of American power - the re-elected president said he would no longer "pretend" that intolerant regimes were acceptable.

Despite hopes from critics and friends - Tony Blair among them - that Mr Bush would use his second, overwhelming mandate from the American people to pursue a more consensual agenda at home and abroad, Mr Bush signalled that, if anything, his missionary zeal was redoubled. "Freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul," the president declared. "Fortunately for the oppressed, America’s influence is considerable and we will use it confidently in freedom’s cause."

In a 17-minute address that used the word "freedom" 27 times, Mr Bush left no doubt that the spread of liberty would be the hallmark of his policies at home and abroad.

The speech also laid the foundations for what Mr Bush’s aides are calling a "Thatcherite" domestic agenda in his second term - privatising the social security pension system with the same ideological fervour as the Conservatives sold British state monopolies and council houses in the 1980s.

Mr Bush yesterday became the 16th president inaugurated for a second term, in a ceremony that is the US equivalent of a coronation: a parade steeped in pageantry.

With his hand on a Bible used by his father, George HW Bush, at his 1989 inauguration, the president read an oath first taken by George Washington in 1789, watched by 500,000 people who braved the freezing Washington afternoon.

Once again comparing his "war on terror" to the Cold War against Soviet Communism, Mr Bush portrayed the terrorist attacks of September 2001 as the defining moment of his administration - and of the 21st century.

Mr Bush said: "We are led, by events and commonsense, to one conclusion: the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.

"The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

In London, Mr Blair used a newspaper interview to echo Mr Bush’s philosophy, stating: "The best prospect of peaceful coexistence lies in the spread of democracy and human rights."

But the Prime Minister, doubtless speaking for many, raised the cautious hope that when it comes to implementing those ideas during the next four years, the White House would be more sensitive than in the past. "Evolution comes from experience," Mr Blair said.

Mr Bush’s second term will begin with a trip to Europe next month, a move Mr Blair hailed as a significant gesture.

Yet transatlantic relations strained by the war in Iraq could soon come under even greater pressure. Following reports earlier this week that US special forces are already in Iran, Mr Bush yesterday did nothing to assuage fears in Europe and elsewhere that, following Iraq, Washington is squaring up to the Islamic government in Iran.

European leaders have been pursuing a diplomatic end to Iran’s embryonic nuclear programme, but some US policymakers are pushing for a military solution.

"Liberty will come to those who love it. Today, America speaks anew to the people of the world: the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you," Mr Bush said.

But he made no mention of the most controversial attempt to spread the "fire of freedom" - Iraq. The speech comes just over a week before the 30 January elections in Iraq - which are expected to be punctuated by even more savage violence than that of recent weeks.

Army families, Democrats and other critics of the war had called for the president to acknowledge the sacrifice made by more than 1,400 US troops killed so far in Iraq. Laura Bush, the First Lady, insisted that yesterday’s ceremony was, in its way, a tribute to those forces.

"I think there is a tone for this inauguration that recognises what our situation is in the world and that we have troops in harm’s way," she said.