Blair & Bush -- quite a bit in common relationship

Blair & Bush -- quite a bit in common relationship
REUTERS

CAMP DAVID, MARYLAND, FEB 24 : One takes holidays in Tuscany, the other hails from Texas, but the leaders of Britain and America found they had quite a bit in common this week from foreign policy to their brand of toothpaste.

Any fears that the “special relationship” between London and Washington would expire under a new right-of-center President and a left-of-center Prime Minister evaporated on Friday as George W. Bush and Tony Blair met reporters, four hours after meeting each other for the first time.

Blair, leader of Britain’s Labor Party, had been former President Bill Clinton’s friend, frequently trading policy ideas and even sharing pollsters with the Democrat.

But this did not get in Bush’s way. “He can handle his politics in Britain. I’ll handle mine in America,” the Republican President declared in his Texas twang. “But most important, both of us recognise that this is a special relationship, the relationship between America and Britain, and we’re going to keep it that way,” Bush added.

“I can assure you that when either of us get in a bind, there’ll be a friend on the other end of the phone.” It was the first meeting of the two men, and every effort was made to make things as relaxed as possible. Bush invited Blair and his wife, Cherie, to spend Friday night with Bush and his wife, Laura, at the Camp David presidential retreat. Bush and Blair met reporters on Friday afternoon in front of a roaring fire after their first round of talks and a long mountain walk. Later, the two couples were to have dinner together. The Blairs go home on Saturday.

Blair, explaining his openness to building ties with Bush, said it was important to recognise that “there are very strong alliances that can be formed with people, you know, across so-called ideological divides.” Where his politics and Bush’s clearly do meet is in the area of foreign policy. They both take a hawkish view of Iraq, and profess an iron-clad commitment to the NATO alliance.

In what looked like a trade-off, Bush and Blair also made reciprocal gestures in foreign policy areas that have been creating considerable tension in NATO.Bush delighted Blair by saying he supported the Prime Minister’s pet project, the development of a European rapid reaction military force.

This will help Blair at home, where the opposition Tories have been highly critical of the idea and have tried to make it an issue ahead of an expected spring election.

For his part Blair said it was only “sensible” to discuss Bush’s plans for a missile defence shield. This will help give Bush’s project credibility in Europe, where allies including France and Germany have looked askance at the idea.Before Bush and Blair met, analysts thought the articulate and poised Blair, elected four years ago, might show up the relatively inexperienced Texan, who has only been in office for four weeks and is not known for his command of the English language.

But although differences in personal style were apparent, it was the American President who dominated the news conference, often with wise cracks.At one point, Bush animatedly defended Blair against a reporter’s tagging of the Prime Minister as a “tax-raiser.”

“Quit slandering the man! You shouldn’t slander him in that way,” he teased as Blair stood by a bit stiffly.

Later, when asked if they had discovered any common interests, Bush announced impishly: “We both use Colgate toothpaste.”

As British and American reporters burst into laughter, Blair said laconically, “They’re going to wonder how you knew that, George.”

Apparently the two men will have to spend a little more time together before Bush, who often tags people with nicknames, comes up with one for Blair.“I’M Still open for suggestions,” the President said.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll get a few,” Blair said.