The BBC told AFP that it had received no complaint from Blair's office and said that its coverage of last month's natural disaster "was committed solely to relaying the event fully, accurately and impartially". Downing Street meanwhile refused to comment.

One major British newspaper and a former leading BBC journalist hit out also at the criticism which Murdoch, chairman of the media conglomerate News Corporation, attributed to Blair.

Murdoch told a seminar hosted by former US president Bill Clinton Friday in New York that Blair had described the BBC World Service radio's hurricane coverage as "full of hate" towards the United States.

"Tony Blair - perhaps I shouldn't repeat this conversation - told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week, and he turned on the BBC World Service to see what was happening in New Orleans," Murdoch said.

"And he said it was just full of hate of America and gloating about our troubles. And that was his government, well his government-owned thing," Murdoch said of the BBC, in a transcript posted on the Clinton Global Initiative website.

The alleged remarks come at a time when Blair's Labour government and the BBC are already struggling to rebuild a relationship deeply damaged following a row over Iraq.

The Independent on Sunday newspaper meanwhile called the charges over Katrina "simply wrong". It said the BBC had been joined by US media in implying criticism of the Bush administration over its response to the hurricane, which ravaged the southeastern city of New Orleans on August 29.

"The simple reason for this was that the facts on the ground were damning of the president (George W. Bush)," the weekly said in an editorial.

A former BBC foreign correspondent and independent MP, Martin Bell, alleged that Blair was trying to curry favour with Murdoch, who controls important British newspapers, as well being chairman of the BBC's private rival BSkyB.

"Tony Blair was telling Murdoch what he wanted to hear because he needs Murdoch's support," Bell was quoted as saying by British media.

"I think Matt Frei's reporting was absolutely immaculate and reflected the fact that one of the things the BBC is there for is to report events as they happened rather than as politicians may want them perceived to have happened.

"If Tony Blair does want to confront the BBC over this, I'd be surprised - because he would find absolutely zero support, except perhaps among his usual henchmen," Bell added.

After revealing Blair's remarks, Murdoch went on to say that anti-American bias was prevalent throughout Europe. Meanwhile Clinton said that while the BBC's reports on the hurricane were factually accurate, its presentation was "stacked up" to criticise Bush's handling of the disaster.

A row between the BBC and Labour in 2003 led to a government weapons expert, David Kelly, killing himself the same year. Kelly had been revealed as the source for a BBC report saying that intelligence on the Iraqi threat was exaggerated to secure public support for the US-led war.

The BBC's director-general, Greg Dyke, and chairman, Gavyn Davies, were forced to resign following an official inquiry that found the BBC at fault.

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