"The lame-duck double act take their final bow" (Times-UK)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2199282,00.html


From Tom Baldwin in Washington

They behaved like a pair of veteran comics but Bush and Blair had some serious questions to answer

IT IS testament to Tony Blair’s enduring popularity — on this side of the Atlantic, at least — that when Georgetown University advertised 700 tickets for his speech yesterday, it had 1,000 applicants in an hour.
The Prime Minister appeared rather touched that so many students would want to hear what he had to say, instead of protesting, as they undoubtedly would have in Britain. He told them that he was young, once, and had other interests before politics, and that it might have been “more fun” if he had stuck to them. It was a joke that would have fallen flat back home but, here, he was the funniest man alive.

It was a similar story on Thursday night, when he stood shoulder to shoulder with George Bush at a White House press conference once more.

This trip to Washington, the first in almost a year, was a nostalgic routine for the two leaders. In their first summit at Camp David five long years ago, Mr Bush revealed that they shared the same brand of toothpaste. “People will wonder how you know that, George,” the Prime Minister said......cont'd