Saturday, September 09, 2006

Blair does a Clinton

From The Australian, September 09, 2006, by Tom Baldwin, London [emphasis added]...

TONY Blair is being forced to adopt what aides have long been calling the "Bill Clinton strategy" for his departure. A document circulated in No10 Downing Street several months ago urged him to clarify the likely date he would step down, saying that attention would then focus on Gordon Brown and allow the Prime Minister to chart a course to calmer political waters.

Aides say it was striking how Mr Clinton's popularity recovered after the Monica Lewinsky scandal once the spotlight had switched to Al Gore and his looming clash with Mr Bush in 2000. Under the Clinton strategy, Mr Blair would cede more of the domestic political agenda to Mr Brown and increasingly concentrate on big foreign-policy initiatives that he relishes.

...Mr Blair is expected to travel to the Middle East in the next few days. ...He helped persuade George W.Bush to back Palestinian statehood in 2002, but is known to have been disappointed by the lack of a follow-through by the US administration. British government sources say the White House is "at least listening" on the subject once more.....

The Times

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