Bush wistful at brief encounter with Blair

Published on Friday 8 June 2007 01:49

HAVING spanned seven years, their relationship can hardly be described as a brief encounter.

But yesterday's farewell from George Bush to Tony Blair could have rivalled for its poignancy the final goodbye between the adulterous lovers at the heart of the 1945 film by David Lean.

As the Prime Minister prepares to climb on board the train of retirement from politics, Mr Bush made clear his life would be left a little emptier without the man he once fondly greeted with "Yo Blair" by his side.

The US president described his feelings as the pair stood shoulder to shoulder for their final official summit ."This is the last meeting I will have had with him as prime minister. It's a nostalgic moment for me," he said.

"I'm sorry it's come to be, but that's what happens in life. We'll move on," the president added.

Mr Bush also recounted their last meeting at the rose garden in the White House grounds.

They had talked about "how our efforts are going to lead to peace and to a better world for a lot of people," Mr Bush said.

But the Prime Minister played down the attention lavished on him by the president.

Asked later if he was equally as sad as Mr Bush, Mr Blair said he was too enmeshed in the details of tackling climate change at the G8 to think about his imminent departure.

"To be absolutely frank, I'm so into the difference between various linking systems of emissions trading that I haven't the time to feel nostalgic or anything else," Mr Blair said, in remarks that show playing hard to get is sometimes the best strategy for getting a partner to divulge their feelings.

His official spokesman also insisted that Mr Blair had little time to reflect on the end of the official relationship.

"These are normal working days, we are getting on with the job," he said.

Mr Blair will leave Downing Street on 27 June after a decade in power, which has been punctuated and - critics believe - sullied by his close ties to the Republican president.

A moving van was seen in Downing Street this week, showing that there will be no going back for the Blairs as the family members prepare for their new life.

Mr Bush and Mr Blair have always enjoyed a chemistry.

Even detractors of the president concede he has a high "emotional intelligence" quotient, diffusing awkward questions with humour - a tactic deployed more articulately by Mr Blair.

They both also have a strong sense of faith.

After seven years, there is no sign of the fabled "itch" that strikes many couples.

Little wonder that Mr Bush is reluctant to move on: it is unlikely that Gordon Brown will be as ready a bedfellow for him.