Reaping rewards from chaos he sowed
THE photograph of a smiling Tony Blair, thumbs tucked in jean pockets, strolling alongside newly elected President George Bush at his Camp David retreat in 2001 came to define Blair’s Premiership.
Just over two years later, the pair defied world opinion and invaded Iraq.
It was a disaster which, arguably, destroyed the reputation of both. And many experts say it was a major factor in the rise of the socalled Islamic State terror group.
Such history will make many despair at the idea Blair may be given a new role in ending the Middle East chaos whose flames he fanned.
But the former Prime Minister has always been a political chameleon. And he has usually found a way of schmoozing his way into the White House.
In 1998, he teamed up with fellow left-ofcentre showman Bill Clinton before delivering his famous ‘liberal intervention’ speech in Chicago. Both were subsequently hailed as heroes when their military action ended the bloody Bosnian civil war.
But the same doctrine ended in disaster when Blair and Bush attempted to intervene in Afghanistan and Iraq, amid claims that they lied about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
By rights, Democrat Barack Obama was a far more natural political ally for Blair than Right-wing cowboy Bush. But Obama, keen to distance himself from his predecessor, kept Bush’s warmonger British pal at arm’s length.
Despite pledging a $54billion (£44billion) increase in defence spending and vowing to wipe out IS, Trump has also said he intends to focus on rebuilding the US economy rather than getting involved in foreign wars.
On her recent visit to the US, Theresa May went out of her way to echo Trump’s foreign policy move. She did so by disowning the ‘failed policies of the past’ – an obvious reference to Bush, Blair, Iraq and Afghanistan and the clearest possible public repudiation of Blair’s ‘liberal intervention’. Now the predecessor she publicly disowned in a speech to Trump’s supporters could be back in the White House advising the Trump team on foreign affairs. And doing it behind her back.
Asked how she would get over personal differences with flamboyant Trump, vicar’s daughter Mrs May coyly replied: ‘Opposites attract.’ Wily charmer Mr Blair is more than capable of using precisely the same chat-up line to weave his way into the affections of Donald Trump.
After all, following Brexit, Mrs May will no longer be able to act as a ‘bridge’ between the White House and Brussels. Blair is on firstname terms with most EU leaders including Angela Merkel. Having made millions from business dealings with all manner of super-rich world leaders, Blair will get on with Trump like a house on fire.