Blair Held On to Power at Bush's Behest

Sources revealed to The Sunday Telegraph that Tony Blair and George W. Bush planned in secret to have Blair stay on as prime minister longer than expected, and to groom Environmental Secretary David Millibrand as his successor rather than heir-apparent Gordon Brown. The Bush team allegedly made its request after Brown “harangued” Condoleezza Rice over American policy on aid, development, and Africa. A senior Labour source told the Telegraph that “After Condi Rice met Gordon for the first time, she complained to the White House about the way he behaved. No. 10 suddenly starting getting these messages from the White House that there were grave doubts about the desirability of Gordon taking over. It wasn’t just the White House either, it was other people based in the U.S., business leaders, people like that.” In 2006, shortly before he was expected to leave office, Blair visited the U.S. to meet with Bush and returned showing unexpected determination to stay on as PM. As if the plot weren’t already reminiscent enough of Polanski’s recent thriller The Ghost Writer, Blair is expected to address the series of events in his forthcoming autobiography, A Journey.