Bush, Blair and the old boys club

Bush, Blair and the old boys club

It was a shock to switch on British domestic television today to find the former Australian Prime Minister (now happily retired) turning up on a political chat show. Since his loss at the last election to Kevin Rudd's Labour party, John Howard has hardly said a word in public, much less on British television.

Despite a couple of years of near silence, it seems John Howard is still standing by his old mates. Remember the "coalition of the willing"?

So, on the topic of the day: should Tony Blair be given the new post of European President? Howard's reply:

"Its none of my business, but I'll express my view anyway ... I think the concept of a President of Europe is not one that appeals to me ... as an individual I had a great respect for Blair. I found him intelligent, I got on very well with him and the whole time he was Prime Minister of Great Britain I was Prime Minister of Australia."

And on the subject of the global economic crisis, and whether Gordon Brown has “saved the world”? Well the answer was a pretty firm:

"I don't think that any individual can claim to have saved the world. And can I just say in defence of an old friend of mine George Bush, there is a lot of talk about the G20 now and the first person to convene a meeting of the heads of government of the G20 was George Bush."