LONDON -- U.S. President George W. Bush must have drawn some comfort from having British Prime Minister Tony Blair stand beside him at the White House in Washington the other day. At least there was one friend left who was prepared to stick by him as the Iraq situation worsened.
But should he have felt so reassured this way? Blair is now in the departure lounge as prime minister, with his handover, almost certainly to his colleague Gordon Brown, penciled in for next June -- although it might be even earlier.
This means, as is always the way with departing leaders, that his authority is ebbing and his supporters are drifting away or jockeying for positions under the new man. On top of that, as the chief architect of Britain's policy of total commitment to the Bush strategy for the Middle East, Blair sees his credit draining even faster as that strategy unravels.