Hug Them Close: Blair, Clinton, Bush and the 'Special Relationship' - Softcover

"Mr. Riddell does a masterly job of capturing the ins and outs of Mr Blair's remarkably close relationship with an American president who is in so many ways his complete opposite. . . . [This] immensely readable book may not be the last word on Tony Blair's war and his relationship with George Bush, but it will surely long stand as one of the best."-Ivo H. Daalder, The New York Times

"Hug them close": the words used by a senior Downing Street aide to sum up Tony Blair's policy toward the United States. His political balancing act was a high-risk course of action on both the domestic and international fronts.

Placing Blair and Bush in the context of Anglo-American relations throughout history, this award-winning book traces their relationship from its early tensions, through 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan and onto Blair's apparent subservience to Bush over Iraq. Using his close journalistic connections to Downing Street, Peter Riddell discovers a complex and often bizarre relationship rooted in a failed British foreign policy that will soon force Blair's government to choose between America and Europe. This updated edition includes new material on the impact on Blair's premiership of the Hutton Inquiry and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction and establish security in Iraq.

Peter Riddell is the chief political commentator of the Times, a television and radio broadcaster, and best-selling author of Parliament Under Blair and Honest Opportunism: The Thatcher Government.