The prime minister's alliance with George W. Bush, who is widely seen here as having dragged Britain into a disaster, has become a huge political liability, one that Downing Street tries, often effectively, to play down.
What's more, Britons who followed the first debate between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry felt their contributions to the U.S. war effort passed almost unmentioned, even by the president's supposedly worldly, alliance-loving Democratic challenger. Being America's ally today is seen here as a dangerous, thankless task.
... Downing Street had also done a consummate job of minimizing Blair's public contact with Bush and senior administration officials. Bilateral visits were kept formal and, if possible, under wraps. Photographs à deux at international gatherings, such as the G8 summit, were avoided. Britain's foreign secretary, not Blair, represented Britain at the recent U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. If you ask his office when Blair plans to collect the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor he was awarded more than a year ago, you are told no date has been set.
The British government instead has recently made a show of Blair's personal affairs and public contacts with Europe and other countries.
...When Parliament reconvenes this week, Blair will face renewed pressure to issue a formal apology for supporting what a growing constituency regards as the U.S. president's ideologically inspired war. There is now a real possibility that in trying to cement the special relationship by following the Americans to Iraq, Blair may have accelerated its dissolution.
WaPo article
What's more, Britons who followed the first debate between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry felt their contributions to the U.S. war effort passed almost unmentioned, even by the president's supposedly worldly, alliance-loving Democratic challenger. Being America's ally today is seen here as a dangerous, thankless task.
... Downing Street had also done a consummate job of minimizing Blair's public contact with Bush and senior administration officials. Bilateral visits were kept formal and, if possible, under wraps. Photographs à deux at international gatherings, such as the G8 summit, were avoided. Britain's foreign secretary, not Blair, represented Britain at the recent U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. If you ask his office when Blair plans to collect the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor he was awarded more than a year ago, you are told no date has been set.
The British government instead has recently made a show of Blair's personal affairs and public contacts with Europe and other countries.
...When Parliament reconvenes this week, Blair will face renewed pressure to issue a formal apology for supporting what a growing constituency regards as the U.S. president's ideologically inspired war. There is now a real possibility that in trying to cement the special relationship by following the Americans to Iraq, Blair may have accelerated its dissolution.
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