Cherie [Blair] said Bush 'stole' power and tackled him on executions

London Times | January 24, 2003 | London Times

[ejdrapes]

January 24, 2004

2001: the visit when Cherie Blair put her views on execution

Cherie said Bush 'stole' power and tackled him on executions

By Nicholas Wapshott in New York, Philip Webster and David Charter

TONY BLAIR has been embarrassed by his wife’s displays of open animosity towards President Bush, according to a forthcoming biography of the Prime Minister.

Cherie Blair is said to have made no secret of her conviction that Mr Bush “stole” the presidential election, and picked an argument with him over the death penalty during a private dinner.

Although the Prime Minister was pragmatic about Mr Bush’s victory, Mrs Blair was far less sanguine about the Supreme Court decision that gave him the keys to the White House. She believed Al Gore had been “robbed” of the presidency and was hostile to the idea of her husband “cosying” up to the new President.

Even as they flew to Washington for their first meeting with the presidential couple, Mrs Blair was in no mood to curry favour, the book Tony Blair: The Making of a World Leader by Philip Stephens, states. “Cherie Blair still believed that Bush had stolen the White House from Gore,” he wrote. She asked more than once during the journey why they had to be so nice to “these people”.

Mrs Blair scarcely concealed her impatience as the Blair team debated on the plane whether the gift he had brought for the President, a bust of Winston Churchill, was of sufficient quality for the Oval Office. They decided to find a better one and that Mr Blair would tell the President it was on its way. Mrs Blair was annoyed at the fuss but was overruled. Another bust was delivered months later.

The book’s disclosures of Mrs Blair’s forthright views will cause embarrassment in Downing Street, because of Mr Blair’s good working relations with Mr Bush, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, although they will not surprise officials or ministers who know her well. She is known for expressing her views forcefully in private.

Stephens writes that Mrs Blair behaved impeccably at her first meeting with the President “for all her outspoken resentment on the flight” and “to the great relief of her husband and aides” she had been at pains to make friends with Laura Bush.

But when the Bushes came to Britain in the summer of 2001, Mrs Blair, “more tribal in her politics than Tony”, according to a close family friend, embarrassed her husband. As the two couples sat down to dinner, with the officials no longer there, Mrs Blair could not resist an argument. She is a human rights lawyer and turned to the death penalty, a subject on which she has blunt views.

Judicial executions were an immoral violation of human rights, an affront under the US Constitution as much as under European laws to the fundamental principles of justice, she said. This opinion was delivered to a man who as Governor of Texas signed warrants for more than 150 executions.

Mr Blair was reported to have “squirmed”, even though he shares her opposition to the death penalty. The author says that when he asked Mr Blair about the incident during research for the book he looked uncomfortable — all he would say was that Cherie had raised the issue but as far as he was concerned the United States and Britain simply had different systems.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “She has always had a good relationship with President Bush and has of course discussed many issues with him, including capital punishment. The discussions have always been good-natured.”

Stephens also states that later in the evening Mr Bush had been embarrassed by his wife. Laura Bush had made it clear that her views on abortion were a great deal more liberal than his.

Mrs Blair, who is writing a book about prime ministers’ spouses, has made her forthright views known several times in situations that have caused alarm at No 10. She issued an apology after saying during a visit to Britain by Queen Rania of Jordan in June 2002 that young Palestinians “feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up”. Last month she said that “Saudi Arabia’s image in the world is appalling” over its treatment of women, in a speech in front of the Saudi Ambassador.

Stephens’s book also reveals the coolness shown by Vice- President Cheney in his early meetings with Mr Blair and how Mr Cheney showed his hostility later on to Mr Blair’s efforts to persuade Mr Bush to work through the UN before war against Iraq. He made “occasional, acid” interventions during the crucial Camp David summit and “during the following days and months he would be the constant disrupting force in the Anglo-American relationship”. Stephens adds: “If Donald Rumsfeld discomfited Blair with his public disdain for multilateralism, Cheney sought to undermine the Prime Minister privately.”

Stephens is a political columnist on the Financial Times and the paper’s former political editor. His 250-page biography of Mr Blair was commissioned by the publishers Viking to meet an urgent demand from Americans for more information about the Prime Minister and his family. Since Mr Blair became Mr Bush’s closest ally in the war on terrorism he has become universally popular with Americans, not least for his ability to describe al-Qaeda’s threat with an eloquence that the President cannot match.

There has been widespread concern among Americans that Mr Blair’s intimate support for President Bush might have damaged his prospects of re-election.

The book is published in America on February 5 and is expected to sell well in the Anglophile cities of New York and Washington.

[NutCrackerBoy]

Thank you for your words. I think you make a lot of sense. I happened to see FR thread on abortion based on an essay by Erica Jong, who I admire as a writer. She doesn't get it, but it was quite well-written and well-reasoned. I would have liked to discuss abortion on that thread, but it was a couple of days old and everyone on it was gone.

[faithincowboys]

The great thing is Kerry campaigned for Clinton when his opponents were legitimate war heroes (Dole, Bush Sr. and Admiral Stockdale.) If McCain had won the Rep nomination, I guarantee you Kerry would have stumped for Gore.

After team Gore tried to disenfranchise military ballots in Fla, Kerry came to Fla and tried to help Gore in the recount.

Kerry is a phony. If military service is all important, he should have never campaigned on behalf of Clinton. Dole and Bush Sr. served in WW2 and never tossed their medals away.

Kerry is full of it and the media are nothing but Leftist shills.

[cyncooper]

John, I just saw the thread you started where evidently Kerry IS now adopting the "Bush was a deserter" line.

What a slime. What a despicable creep he is.

[muawiyah]

Look, Mrs. Blair is hard core Labor Party. No way that girl can be anything other than a barbarian. Now, is she pro-choice? Someone ought to ask her.

[WestTexasWend]

Yup...that's the pic I had in mind, thanks for posting it. Does look like W is giving her a cold-sore check...

[pau1f0rd]

Tough choices. Don't many Britons think the Israeli government should reel in settlers and take down settlements to mollify the Palestinians.

I should think that any military or financial support by the British of North Ireland should cease. Give North Ireland back to the Irish.

Yes, the left in the UK argue for both these points quite consistently. But NI is voluntarily part of the UK.

[cajungirl]

see post 128,,I misspelled!

[NordP]

"The hysterical thing is that Cherie never brought up this topic with Clintoon. Of course, Bubba supports the death penalty and executed a retarded black man as Governor of Arkansas-- why in the Hell does the Left get a pass? I am freaking amazed by the hypocrisy."

Your post was so good, I had to re-post it.

EX-actly!

NordP

[NordP]

Another excellent point!

NordP

[pau1f0rd]

Look, Mrs. Blair is hard core Labor Party. No way that girl can be anything other than a barbarian. Now, is she pro-choice? Someone ought to ask her

She may be a leftie, but she's also a strong Roman Catholic. I see no reason to assume she's pro-choice. She had her 4th baby at 45, and a miscarriage in 2002, where most pro-choicers would have terminated. The Telegraph said "Despite the dangers of a pregnancy for a woman of 47, Mrs Blair's strong Roman Catholic faith would have made an abortion unthinkable." Link

A search on Google produced not much on the topic, but the Conservative Christian Fellowship think "Cherie Blair, widely regarded as being to the left of her husband, is also reputed, as a Catholic, to be personally opposed to abortion." Link

[imintrouble]

Point taken Matchett - and you were right to point out my error, but I must defend myself in that I meant no insult to Matt Drudge and his website. I merely found it odd that he would blithely link to an FR thread as if it were an article.

I have never seen him do this before, and perhaps he does it all the time - I am an ignorant sod as you have pointed out. I rarely read Drudge's website. It was a complete shock to me so early in the morning to find myself in the middle of FreeRepublic when I was certain I had searched DrudgeReport. One of those "now why did I do that?" moments for me.

I had searched FreeRepublic moments before looking for the article on Cherie Blair's critique of our President and having found none in FreeRepublic because no doubt I phrased my Search improperly, I then went to Drudge.
Thankfully Mr. Drudge had already found a thread on this website and guided me carefully to it.

My apologies to Mr. Drudge if and when he ever nods in here.
I am humbled.

And Mr. Matchett-PI I hardly think you need to chastise so many members in a general group. If you have issues with posters, would it not be more adult to deal with them directly, not a one-size-fits-all rant!

[faithincowboys]

Thanks.

These people are amazing. The thing that amazes me is that there are millions of people falling for their BS. That is the great mystery of our time.

[cajungirl]

Your post 210 brings the recount all back. It amazes me the selective blindness of the dems to what happened down in florida. The attempt to steal the election by Gore aided and abetted by the party workers, and finally by the fla supremes was one of the most shockiing things I have ever seen. Thank God the Supremes stepped in. It still amazes me that it was happening right in front of our eyes.

[faithincowboys]

Well, Hells bells, Cherie should tend to her own troubles.

By the way, the settlers are voluntarily where they are and your government clearly believes that they should be forcibly removed to assuage Arab rage.

I would just appreciate it if the Prime Minister's wife did not pick arguments with this American President-- especially when she loved Clinton so.

[mewzilla]

[mewzilla]

Mrs. Blair would certainly not be the first woman to pad her resumee and further her ambitions by sleeping her way to the top.

[Cold Heat]

Very unclassy!

Absolutely!

I would put her on the dis-invite list for sure. Foreign relations be damned.

[katana]

Unlike Cherie's country, ours has a written constitution the rules of which were (despite the efforts of the Florida State Supreme Court, the socialist whores who make up most of our press, every known thug in the democrat party and their slime candidate) followed to the letter. I would hope that GWB took this b***h's comments in stride and that Laura, in a private moment, told Cherie exactly where she could stick it.

[faithincowboys]

Yeah, I sympathize with the thoughts of Laura Bush. I resent that people have portrayed her as a heathen on this thread.

I have read a little by Jong. I also read some Didion. I disagree with the Left on much, but they do have talented people on their side. I also think there is a great deal of peer pressure and superficiality. If you want adulation, you have to be on the Left.

If you are a personality type that demands universal love, it's better to be on the Left. There are so many people singing your praises. Clinton was absolutely adored by the celebrities in literature and film. Meanwhile, Bush is hated so passionately.

I think the abortion stance of the GOP does alienate some suburban women. I think the Dems would be in grave trouble if there was a national consensus to respectfully disagree and live with the tragically practical status quo.

The thing that bothers me so much is the Left's demonization of the Right. Bush is trying to unite the country, but the Left in the media and in government are absolutely divisive. The stump speeches of Kerry and Clark are so hateful. They paint a caricature of those of us on the Right as racist, mean-spirited, illiterate morons. They constantly question our patriotism and intelligence.

I am really sick of their tactics, I hope the majority of Americans deal them a blow that they won't soon forget. They need to be further marginalized.

BTW, you can bring that thread back to life if you try. People on FR love to debate abortion. Or you could post an article on abortion that would attract pretty much the same people.

[F16Fighter]

"It's not a secret that Mrs. Bush is pro-choice..."

It was until I read your post.

While I wonder if I should assume she's anti-gun and pro-illegal invader as well, we can be thankful at least she has enough sense not to broadcast it.