A planned Anglo-French summit has reportedly been postponed in the wake of a rift between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac.

The AFP news agency said France had announced the meeting would be put back, saying both governments needed some time to prepare for it.

The news came soon after Downing Street has tried to play down the two leaders' bust-up over farms subsidies.

The UK prime minister's official spokesman described Mr Blair's European summit rift with the French president as "a bit of turbulence".

Anglo-French relations remained good despite the argument over reforming the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), insisted the spokesman.

'Strong relationship'

The row was "entirely focused" on the farms issue and did not arise out of differences over Iraq policy, he said.

"The prime minister values strongly the strength of Anglo-French relations and values very good relations with Jacques Chirac," added the spokesman.

The Anglo-French summit in Le Touquet was planned for December appears to have been postponed after Number 10 said it still wanted the meeting to go ahead.

No new date has been set for the summit.

Before news of the French announcement, Mr Blair's spokesman said no firm date for what would be part of a regular series of meetings had been set and it was for France to announce any details.

The two leaders would in any case meet at two other upcoming summits, he added.

'United States of Europe'

The row comes as a controversial blueprint for the future of Europe - including proposals for dual citizenship.

"The United States of Europe" is one option for rebranding the European Union, with the European Community or United Europe as possible alternatives.

The plan, which includes a draft European constitution, was hailed by Valery Giscard D'Estaing, the former French president heading up the convention on the EU's future, as similar to the work of the founding fathers of the US.

But it was attacked by Eurosceptics as a plan for an undemocratic, federal Europe.

David Heathcoat-Amory, the Conservative representative on Mr D'Estaing's convention, called it "a very dangerous document indeed", which took power away from voters.

The former Tory minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think there is an embryonic European state here.

"The government will deny that, but that's clearly the direction in which we are going and it is going to make the so-called democratic deficit even greater."

Super-state rejected

Peter Hain, the former Europe minister made Welsh Secretary last week, said the UK was firmly against plans to rename Europe.

Mr Hain told Today: "United States of Europe, frankly, is not on. We won't accept that."

The UK was also against "dual citizenship", he said.

But rather than paving the way for a "super-state", the draft proposals unveiled on Monday actually "anchored the European Union to the nation state", he argued.

Mr Hain added: "I think we should just approach this in a practical common sense fashion, remembering that Europe is a partnership of sovereign nation states, not a big super-state in Brussels."

That was a stance underlined by Number 10, which said the UK would be concentrating on the "primacy of nation states."

UK outmanoeuvred?

Mr Hain, who remains the UK government's representative on the convention on the future of Europe, also attempted to play down the row between Mr Blair and Mr Chirac.

"The truth is we got an outcome at Brussels, and Tony Blair ensured we did, not by being rude to anyone, but by straightforward, strong negotiation," he told Today.

He insisted the UK's disagreement with France on farm subsidies would not affect progress on other issues.

Mr Hain also denied the row was being exaggerated by Downing Street to cover up the fact that Mr Blair had been outmanoeuvred by France and Germany.

'Sidelined'

Mr Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder struck a deal to keep CAP spending at current levels until 2013 before Mr Blair arrived in Brussels for last week's summit.

Charles Kennedy: Farms talks "disappointing"

Updating MPs about the summit on Monday, Mr Blair insisted those wanting to block CAP reform in return for agreeing to cap farms spending until 2013 had been defeated.

Such claims were mocked by Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.

He said: "It is a pity that the prime minister allowed the forces of old Europe to sideline him so convincingly in Brussels."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said "too little progress" had been made on CAP reform at the summit.