John McCain, the leading Republican presidential hopeful, on Friday strongly endorsed a neo-conservative think-tank report that many see as the basis for the “new way forward in Iraq” strategy that George W. Bush will unveil next week.

Mr McCain, who shared a platform with Joe Lieberman, the independent Democratic senator and former vice-presidential candidate, said Mr Bush’s expected “surge” of US forces to Iraq should persist until the job of stabilising the security situation has been achieved.