WP: Party Critics Urge Blair to Stand Up to Bush ('Jeeves' approach)

[kskiska]

Prime Minister Disparaged for 'Jeeves' Approach

BRIGHTON, England -- Timothy Garton Ash, an international relations expert at Oxford University, drew rueful chuckles the other day at a panel discussion here when he dubbed Prime Minister Tony Blair's approach to the Bush administration "the inimitable Jeeves school of foreign policy."

Britain, Ash said, "is the wise old butler who stands behind this idiot nincompoop in the White House and is impeccably loyal in public but in private whispers in his ear: 'Is that wise, sir? Do you really want to invade Iraq?' "

The shadow of Iraq hung like an ominous cloud over the annual conference of Blair's ruling Labor Party this past week. But the bigger cloud for many here was the growing realization that President Bush could be headed for reelection in November, transforming what they had hoped would be a one-term aberration into a two-term presidency.

In the backroom meetings and panel discussions that accompany this annual ritual, many politicians, academics and analysts expressed dread about the likelihood of a Bush victory. "I'm worried the transtlantic alliance won't survive," said Pauline Neville-Jones, a former chairman of the government's top secret Joint Intelligence Committee. She added, "There is a wide perception this is an America we don't particularly like."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63510-2004Sep30.html

[bobbieinok]

1. Jeeves comment is great; TG Ash has wriiten a lot about Germany

he spent time in the former East Germany doing research.....after 89 he checked out the Stasi records on him and discovered that many of his friends, professors, etc reported on him....he wrote a book about what he found and his interviews with some of his informer 'friends' to find out WHY