Bolton quits as UN envoy for Bush Administration

Facing a hostile Senate confirmation process, John Bolton agreed to step down America's Ambassador to the UN when his temporary appointment expires in January, the White House said today.

The former State department official, one of the Bush Administration's most outspoken supporters of the invasion of Iraq, was nominated as the country's senior envoy to the UN in March 2005.

But his "recess appointment", made pending the approval of the Senate, languished without confimation for more than a year, with Republicans and Democrats alike unwilling to speak up for a diplomat so closely associated with the war.

Mr Bolton's confirmation chances were effectively reduced to zero by the victory of the Democratic party in last month's congressional mid-term elections, when Senator Joe Biden, a leading Democrat, took over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and said he saw no need to consider Mr Bolton's nomination.