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Blair was desperate to cosy up to Bush, according to newly released documents

TONY BLAIR was desperate to establish good relations with new US president George Bush, according to official documents released today.

The former prime minister was famously close to Mr Bush’s predecessor Bill Clinton and there was concern in Number 10 that would not go down well with the new “neocon” Republican administration in Washington.

Files released to the National Archives in Kew show Mr Blair was the first foreign leader to call to congratulate the president-elect when his victory was finally confirmed by the Supreme Court in December 2000 following a prolonged dispute over the count in Florida.

Michael Tatham in the No 10 private office noted that the eight-minute conversation had established “as good a rapport as one could hope for” from such a short call.

“The prime minister asked early on if he could call the president-elect by his first name: Bush warmly assented (but stuck to addressing the prime minister as ‘sir’),” he wrote.

Mr Bush defeated Mr Clinton’s former vice-president Al Gore, although Britain’s ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer wryly noted the outcome could have been different “had Clinton averted his gaze from Lewinsky’s thong” — a reference to his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In the run-up to the Bush inauguration on January 20 2001, the PM dispatched his chief of staff Jonathan Powell and foreign policy adviser John Sawers — a future MI6 chief — to Washington to meet senior figures.

They returned from two days of talks broadly encouraged by what they heard — although cautioning that it would not be the same as the Clinton days.

“All of these circles are anglophile and your message about working closely with the new administration was well-received,” Mr Powell wrote.

“They all said they wanted to keep the relationship special. It will not however be as cosy as with the Clinton administration. Unlike Clinton they will not do political favours for us.”

The following month, Mr Blair made his first visit to meet Mr Bush at his presidential retreat at Camp David — an encounter that went better than anyone in No 10 had dared hope.

The new president delighted the Downing Street team by reaffirming his commitment to the “special relationship,” describing the UK as “our strongest friend and closest ally” and calling Mr Blair “a pretty charming guy.”

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