The feel good factor

The feel good factor flowed back into Anglo-US ties at a White House dinner lavished on British Prime Minister Tony Blair by his friend and ...

The feel good factor flowed back into Anglo-US ties at a White House dinner lavished on British Prime Minister Tony Blair by his friend and political soulmate US President Bill Clinton. "Our alliance is strong, our personal friendship is strong," Clinton said, during a pre-dinner toast on Thursday studded with humour. Blair too spoke of the fundamental ties and "values of freedom, progress and justice" linking two nations that have become enmeshed in shared international events.

"Those shared values are more important than ever before and that shared understanding more vital to our future than ever before because there are no problems that are solved simply as nations alone today, there are problems that face us all and must be solved by us as nations together," said Prime Minister Blair.

"Bill, I am pleased to call you a great colleague and am proud to call you a good friend," the prime minister said.

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Beaming smiles as the two greeted more than 200 guests from the ranks of the US glitterati stood instark contrast to the gravitas earlier on the first full day of Blair’s first visit to the United States as premier.

At a joint press conference in the President’s Oval Office, the two brandished the threat of joint military strikes to beat Iraq into compliance of flouted United Nations resolutions.

But the presidential supper, honey mango chicken and salmon, flowed in to a beat of a different kind as Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder struck up the musical chords of an after-dinner dance. Clinton and Blair, self-proclaimed members of the "rock ‘n’ roll generation" are both musical enthusiasts.

Blair’s publicity men made sure that the 44-year-old Prime minister’s electric guitar was seen being moved in to number 10 Downing Street immediately after his May election win.

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The same officials were quick to dash speculation that Blair would strike up a tune with Clinton, a keen sax blower, as part of the White House musical feast. The two are bonded not only through their taste in pop music. Blair’s presscorps has been keen to underscore the similarities in domestic and foreign policies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Clinton and Blair are alone among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to publicly support strikes against Iraq. Britain, like the United States, has enjoyed strong economic growth for more than five years.And like his US counterpart, Blair has pledged to invest the fruits of this economic upturn in education. "Throughout our history our peoples have reinforced each other in the classroom of democracy," Clinton said.

As the US and British people age, both leaders have been forced to devise a radical overhaul of programmes aimed at helping the elderly. And both governments are pursuing a so-called "third way" between unbridled free-market forces and overbearing state intervention. These issues were due to form the basis of a two-way seminar between British ministers and their US counterparts.

Earlier, Blair said he felt "at home" in Washington, and no wonder: he’s staying atthe official Blair House residence across from the White House.And the first high school Blair visited was Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland, just outside Washington, which he toured with President Bill Clinton. "My name is Tony Blair. I’m here at Montgomery Blair High School.

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I’m staying opposite the White House at the moment, a place called Blair House. So I’m feeling kind of at home here," he told hundreds of enthusiastic high schoolers who warmly greeted the two leaders.

Clinton and Blair greeted six students seated behind computers and sent a message via the Internet to a high school in Bristol, England, before they spoke to a high school assembly. Blair later met with leaders of the Republican majority in Congress at the Capitol.