Tony Blair's government is to make a last ditch effort to persuade the US Senate to ratify an extradition treaty with the UK, seeking to defuse the transatlantic row that has arisen over the case of the NatWest Three.

As three British ex-bankers accused of fraud prepare for their likely extradition to the USthis week, John Reid, home secretary, is to send a departmental minister to Washington, seeking to persuade Congress that immediate ratification of the treaty has become imperative.