The Arab world responded positively on Tuesday to Barack Obama’s surprise interview with an Arabic language television channel – the first he has given to any news organisation since he became US president in what was intended to signal a sharp break with George W. Bush.

Mr Obama, who called in his inaugural speech for a new relationship between the US and the Muslim world based on “mutual respect”, took Washington and the Middle East by surprise on Monday night by telling the Al Arabiya channel that he would set aside the “preconceptions” of the Bush years.