Blair Grilled on Bush Union:

Tony Blair today faced tough questions from British MPs on his relationship with George W. Bush and what Britain may or may not have received in return for supporting the US invasion of Iraq. His tepid response shows why politicians who lie should never, ever admit even the slightest error. Dick Cheney would have been nauseated.

"I am not daft about the politics of it. I can see, particularly in my own political family, it is a problem from time to time," Blair admitted, when asked about his slavish devotion to all things American. He argued that people should not "believe that Britain is America's poodle." But then he stood on his back feet and danced in a circle:

"I think most countries round the world would give their eye teeth to have that relationship (with Washington), and it is a shame that here it is seen somehow as a sign of mockery that we have the closeness of that relationship," he said. Well, Tony, most people would actually give their eye teeth to have a government that was honest.

Asked about the detention of Britons in Gitmo, he at least showed more spine than Australia's John Howard: "Guantanamo Bay is an anomaly that at some point has got to be brought to an end," he said.

What about WMDs? "I have to accept that we have not found them, that we may not find them."

Opinion polls show a majority of Britons disklike the US president and disapprove of his close relationship with their prime minister. Oh dear...!