What Blair told Clinton after Princess Diana died

WASHINGTON: Tony Blair told Bill Clinton that Princess Diana’s death was “like a star falling” as the two leaders shared worries about the future of Princes William and Harry in the hours after their mother died in a car crash in Paris.

The British prime minister said: “She was liked by ordinary people – it gave her problems with the royal establishment… I will personally miss her, it’s like a star falling. She was a star for them.”

In another conversation, four years before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US president told Blair the situation developing in that country could become “a nightmare for you”.

The exchange was among dozens of conversations in which the pair discussed their role as “shrinks” to global leaders, fatherhood, and the “grim business” of Princess Diana’s death in August 1997.

Transcripts of their phone calls – released on Thursday – reveal how they chatted and joked like close friends. Blair called Clinton “mate”, and the president constantly flattered his British ally, saying: “You still have that choirboy look.”

The phone records were released to the BBC under US Freedom of Information laws by the Clinton Presidential Library. Much of what Blair said has been heavily redacted.

In 1999, Clinton warned Blair of the “nightmare” developing in Iraq, saying: “It may not happen while I’m in office, but it will for you… it could become a real nightmare for you.”

British and American forces toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, two years after Clinton left office and during Blair’s second term. The calls, made in 1997 to 2000 during Clinton’s second term, begin when he congratulates Blair on his election in May 1997.

In a call on September 1, 1997, hours after Diana died, Blair said: “It’s a grim business, a very grim business.”

Clinton said: “I worry a lot about those kids now.”

Blair said of the driver: “Apparently he’d been drinking.”

Clinton: “Those guys (the paparazzi) were chasing them?”

Blair: “Jumped on them as they left the hotel, yet I can’t believe some of the reports of how fast they were going. It’s just not possible they were going (160km/h).”

In other exchanges, the pair said their role was like “shrinks” offering therapy to global politicians. Clinton said Vladimir Putin, who became Russian prime minister in 1999, was “smart and thoughtful. I think we can do a lot of good with him.” – Daily Mail