Analysis By Nick Assinder Political correspondent, BBC News website

Chancellor Gordon Brown's plan to get the world's big lenders to freeze debt repayments from tsunami-hit countries has received widespread support.

Tony Blair stayed on holiday

If he can pull it off - most importantly with the US on board - it might help answer some of the criticisms that have been levelled at the government over its response to the tragedy.

And there have been some pretty stinging attacks, mostly based on what has been seen by some as a sluggish response to the disaster.

The prime minister has been criticised for refusing to cut short his Christmas break in the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheik.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been attacked for hesitating over revealing the likely British death toll.

And there have been persistent suggestions, most recently from Tory leader Michael Howard, that the government has failed to keep pace with the public in its aid response to the stricken nations.

Take part

As far as Mr Blair is concerned, both Mr Howard and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy have said they would have returned under similar circumstances.

But Mr Straw has defended the prime minister, insisting everything possible had been done to react to the aftermath of the disaster.

Kennedy said he would have returned

"The question for the British media and public is whether there is a single thing the British government could and should have done that it has not done, notwithstanding the fact the Prime Minister is abroad?"

The answer, he said, was "no". And Downing Street has pointed out that Mr Blair was able to take part in the government's daily emergency disaster committee meetings by telephone from his holiday resort.

The prime minister, it has been stressed, was in daily and sometimes hourly contact with his ministers in the days after the disaster.

But his critics none the less believe he should have returned to give the clearest possible signal that the government was doing all it possibly could.

His refusal to do so led the father of a 23-year-old who is missing, presumed dead, to accuse Mr Blair of "losing the plot".

Not the issue

Others, however, claim that had he rushed home he would have faced charges of trying to exploit the situation for political gain.

Meanwhile, the government is under continuing pressure to ensure it matches the massive aid donated by the public - currently running at almost �80 million.

So far, �50 million has been pledged, although Mr Straw has insisted the government will match the public.

The prime minister's spokesman, however, has insisted that "money is not the issue".

Brown took the initiative

It is getting the aid to the people who need it that is the key problem now facing the agencies, she said.

Now, however, Mr Brown appears to have taken the initiative by seeking a deal from other members of the G8 group of industrial nations - currently chaired by the prime minister.

And both Mr Straw and International Development Minister Hilary Benn are to visit the region, with the foreign secretary representing the G8 at an emergency meeting of world leaders called by the Indonesian government.

Mr Blair had already faced criticism for failing to use his chairmanship of the body to co-ordinate aid.

In fact, just such an approach was being taken by the government, through the Chancellor.