Blair to pay social call to George Shultz

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 7/29/6 | John Wildermuth

[SmithL]

SAN FRANCISCO -- When British Prime Minister Tony Blair attends a reception in his honor at George Shultz's San Francisco home tonight, it will be the only social event of his four-day visit to the Bay Area.

From the time he arrived on his British Airways charter at 5:30 Friday evening until the reception with the former secretary of state, Mayor Gavin Newsom and business and community leaders, Blair has been holed up at the Fairmont Hotel, working on his speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles on Tuesday and handling government affairs at long distance.

"I know you don't believe me, but (Blair) really doesn't have anything scheduled Saturday before the reception,'' said Lorraine Turner, a British government spokeswoman. "He won't be visiting Alcatraz and he won't be doing a wine tasting. He's being prime minister.''

His private meeting Friday with President Bush on the fighting in Lebanon left Blair with plenty of work to do back home, where much of the British press has been slamming him as a "poodle,'' for backing the U.S. political agenda in Lebanon and in Iraq.

Keeping the social events to a minimum and highlighting a variety of meetings with leaders in the high-tech and biotech industries is one way to keep any criticism to a minimum.

"Despite all the work he's doing drumming up business, there's a risk of having people say 'Isn't he just going there for a holiday?' especially when he's going to Los Angeles, where he's going to be seeing so many Hollywood types,'' said Martin Uden, the British consul-general in San Francisco. "Of course, that's not true.''

[mkjessup]

You gotta admire a guy, especially a former Secretary of State, who was so gung ho for his alma mater (Princeton) that he had a tattoo of a Princeton Tiger inked on his butt.

I doubt that Blair will get to see THAT artwork. ;)

[SierraWasp]

Georgie porgie, puddin an pie... kissed the girls and made them cry...