key binding

[Mickey Ferguson]

I want to bind the key sequence Esc-F3 (or Alt-F3) to the function I have 
defined that will compare windows, ignoring whitespace.  The lambda that I've 
defined works fine.  I found the following lisp line of code that will make 
this key mapping:

(global-set-key (kbd "<escape><f3>") (lambda () (interactive)
                                       (compare-windows t)))

Unfortunately, it has the side effect of killing the other Esc-<something> 
types of commands.  For example, I frequently use Esc-> and Esc-< to move to 
the end of beginning of a buffer, and they no longer work.  I've confirmed that 
this one line is the culprit by commenting out the command, keeping the rest of 
my initialization intact, and all is well.  So can anyone else suggest how I 
can safely map the Esc-F3 (Alt-F3) key combination?  Replies to Mickey (dot) 
Ferguson (at) CassidianCommunications (dot) com.