An eager Blair goes calling

After his first meeting with George W. Bush, Tony Blair was all praise for the new U.S. President, writes HASAN SUROOR.

MR. BILL CLINTON, mired in post-presidential blues, must have cringed at the sight of his ideological soulmate, Mr. Tony Blair, backslapping Mr. George W.Bush and swearing loyalties to the new White House. The ``charm offensive'' which was thought to be unique to his relationship with the Clintons was in full flow as a beaming Mr Blair flew into Washington last week for his first- ever meeting with a man who was not his preferred choice for the White House only a few months ago. Indeed, Mr. Bush acknowledged that Mr. Blair had bowled him over.

Downing Street has hailed the visit as an unqualified success, and Mr. Blair himself is delighted to have discovered in Mr. Bush a ``very able, very intelligent'' leader with a ``real sense of vision about what he wants to achieve and what's important''. More importantly he is delighted that he is still welcome in Washington and that in times of distress he can always phone a friend. Mr. Bush, he has been assured, is only a telephone call away, just as it used to be in the days of Mr. Clinton. The message repeatedly put across by Mr. Blair and his men is that the Anglo-U.S. ``special relationship'' remains intact and that the departure of Mr. Clinton is going to make no difference to the way the two countries have dealt with each other in the past.

Those who believe that at some point and on some issues Britain would need to choose between U.S. and Europe - and this has been stated by some very important members of Mr. Bush's team - are being told that this is a ``false'' and ``foolish'' choice conjured up by people who want to put Britain in a box. Mr. Blair declared, during his visit, that ``we want to have the best of both worlds''; that Britain wanted to be both with the U.S. and Europe at the same time. He saw no contradiction or difficulty in being an Atlantist and a European simultaneously; indeed he thought Britain could be the bridge between the U.S. and Europe.

However, neither public nor political opinion is impressed, and there is a widespread view that Britain has already cast its lot with the U.S. on important issues, the most obvious being its unqualified support to the U.S. position on Iraq. Its decision to join the recent U.S.-led air strikes against Baghdad caused deep unease even among Labour MPs and was seen as an attempt by Mr. Blair to ingratiate himself with Mr. Bush on the eve of his summit with the new U.S. president. On Iraq, Britain is the odd man out in Europe and if there is one issue on which the Blair administration has clearly chosen between U.S. and Europe it is on the question of sanctions and military action against Baghdad. Downing Street can quibble that its own independent policy simply happened to coincide with the U.S. position or that it is merely implementing the U.N. Security Council resolution but few even in Labour Party are willing to swallow this line. It would take a lot more to remove the impression that Britain is indeed behaving like America's ``poodle''.

Can Britain increase its influence in Europe by being seen as America's cat's paw? The most worrying part is that by identifying itself with Washington, London is losing its credibility in Europe as an honest broker on issues that divide the transatlantic alliance. Both on the NMD and the proposed European defence force, Britain's position is at variance with its European allies. Even after throwing its weight behind the idea of a European force it continues to interpret it in a way that is closer to what Washington wants the force to be like.

The more enlightened even among the Euro-sceptics find this a classic case of trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Mr. Bush may have given the impression that he has bought Mr. Blair's interpretation, but his senior advisers are insisting that they would rather go by what is written in black and white in the Nice Treaty than Mr. Blair verbal assurances.

Similarly on NMD, Mr. Blair has demonstrated complete disregard for international opinion, including the strong opposition to it within his own Government. He has let it be known to Mr. Bush that his Government supports the idea in principle and if necessary it would allow domestic facilities to be used. According to one commentator: ``Mr. Bush believes that Mr. Blair is on board and the Prime Minister's officials say that he is right.'' But he warns that ``when the going on NMD becomes difficult internationally, as it will, Mr. Bush will look to Mr. Blair to help him'' and it is then that the ``new friendship will be tested.''

Meanwhile, an interesting fallout of the Blair-Bush intimacy has been its effect on the Tories who have traditionally regarded themselves as a natural ally of U.S. republicans. Mr. Blair has upstaged them and what has particularly upset them is Mr. Bush's backing for the European force which the Tories fiercely opposed - and hence the charge that Mr. Blair ``misled'' him. That a Republican President should have chosen to be misled by a Labour Prime Minister has deeply wounded the Tories.

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