Blair is on a mission from God, says diplomat's wife
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
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When Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador to Washington, published his memoirs DC Confidential 18 months ago, Tony Blair reportedly called him "a complete prick".
A turnaround: in 1997, No 10 sent Meyer to the US with instructions to "get up the arse of the White House and stay there". And for the most part, the ex-diplomat's book protected Blair's reputation: although the PM had little appetite for detail, he said, and a penchant for "ball-crushingly tight trousers", criticisms were saved for other ministers.
So Downing Street residents are unlikely to be tossing ticker tape over an interview that Sir Christopher's wife, Lady Catherine Meyer has granted Whitehall and Westminster World magazine, in which she mentions the famously testy subject of Blair and George Bush's shared Christianity.
"They are both very religious and I believe that they both feel that what they are doing - especially Blair - is what God wants them to do and that God has chosen their way," says Lady Meyer, a Conservative who (regardless of the Meyers' pillow talk) had opportunity to observe both leaders closely. "This is why they bonded immediately."
She adds: "Blair started talking about getting rid of Saddam Hussein way before September 11 ... in 1998. So I think that on Iraq he was more ready than Bush, who only really came into this conversation after 9/11."
Lady Meyer goes on to accuse Blair's government of "astounding hypocrisy". One senses the end of a special relationship.
Wembley's war of the warblers: Russell wins
It wasn't so long ago that George Michael was too scared to set foot on stage, so his rebirth as a live artist, and in particular the announcement that he will be "the first star to play at the new Wembley" were greeted excitably. Michael's co-manager commented: "To be the first artist to play Wembley is a dream for him."
The claim rankles with English opera singer Russell Watson who is booked to belt out a few notes at the stadium three weeks before George Michael's entourage get anywhere near the hallowed turf.
Watson, back with a new album and a UK tour after surgery to remove a brain tumour in September, will lead a crowd of 90,000 singing the National Anthem, before the FA Cup Final on Saturday 19 May.
The afternoon will be considerably more enjoyable for the tenor if his beloved Manchester United progress to lift the trophy.
Mills: they're out to get me
Heather Mills has trousered plenty of lolly from living in the public eye, but found her over-exposed split from Sir Paul McCartney unpleasant.
Sussex Police has criticised Mills for making a "disproportionate" number of 999 calls; she risked, they said, "being treated as the little boy who cried wolf".
Mills replies dramatically on her website: "Just before Christmas three officers visited me to say they had been made aware of a plot to kill me ... Maybe I should approach anyone standing outside my home late at night and say: 'Excuse me, are you a member of the press or are you part of the death plot?'"
It's all a question of degree: Inspector Knacker insists that the threat was "non-specific" and that there has never been any "imminent risk" to Mills - so she should still get her day in court.
Paper trail
"Cameron: do as I say, not as I flew", read the front-page headline in The Sunday Telegraph, above a story that the supposedly green Conservative Party leader had taken a private plane from Oxford to Hereford - a journey of just two hours and 20 minutes by car.
Readers with spectacularly boring existences may recall this entry from Dave in the parliamentary register of members' interests last September: "Helicopter flight from London to Brecqhou, and return, to meet with Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay." Shadow Chancellor Gideon (George) Osborne accompanied him over the choppy Channel waters and on to the Barclay brothers' island fortress.
And the owners of the Telegraph newspapers are ...
New-age Vikings promote peace
After a 1,000-year hiatus, the Vikings have resumed raids on the Scottish mainland. Responding to Tony Blair's precious victory over "Son of Trident" (the PM's new generation of British nukes), 12 protesters from York, dressed as Vikings, arrived at the gates of Faslane nuclear submarine base at 6.30am yesterday, flapping their tunics and menacingly dipping their horned helmets.
"The Vikings slaughtered tens of thousands of people, but they did so over half a millennium," said one sandal wearer. "Trident could do the same in one minute." Police placed the group under arrest before its members could rape and pillage a path up the west coast of Scotland. Nevertheless, protesters claimed a small moral victory by blockading the base for half an hour - something to warm their cockles, no doubt, while sitting on cold plastic bucket seats in the back of the police van.
