British news reports say the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair has criticized some of President Bush's policies during a private speech in the United States.
Two British newspapers on Sunday quoted from leaked accounts of a speech to Harvard University law students by Cherie Blair, a human rights lawyer.
The papers said Mrs. Blair praised a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ordering the Bush administration to grant legal rights to detained terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The reports said she also criticized Mr. Bush's record on homosexual rights.
Opponents of the British prime minister said it was inappropriate for his wife to act in a partisan way while in another country, especially so close to the U.S. election.
A spokesman for the prime minister said Mrs. Blair was speaking as a human rights lawyer and not offering political opinions.