The seduction of Blair

Prime Minister Tony Blair was "seduced by the glamour of U.S. power" in the build-up to the Iraq war and repeatedly failed to influence U.S. policy, Christopher Meyer a former top diplomat said in comments published on Monday.

Blair did not use his position as Washington's most important ally to delay the start of the war to give more time to plan for what to do after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Meyer said. "History's verdict looks likely to be that it was terminally flawed both in conception and execution," he wrote.

This will go down in history as Blair's biggest failure. Britain should never view itself as a junior partner. Britain is one of the worlds most diplomatically respected nations with much experience in war and occupation, by our successes and by our many mistakes. We do value our special relationship with the US. As a close friend we need to be prepared to give sage advice at times. When Blair stood shoulder to shoulder with Bush after September 11th I firmly hoped that Blair would be the moderating force in the partnership, the voice of reason. Sadly Blair was seduced by the glamour of an American motorcade.