Le poodle qui ne voulait pas qu’on le croit trop poodle

Manifestement, Blair prépare ses valises. Sa seule priorité est, à l’image de sa carrière (voir le texte de Jenkins sur le blairisme), de ne pas laisser une mauvaise image. Question d’image, vous comprenez.

L’ambassadeur du Royaume-Uni à Washington, Sir David Manning, qui fut le principal conseiller de Blair lors du lancement de la guerre contre l’Irak, est un pilier à toute épreuve des special relationships. Fidèle de Blair, il a pour mission de polir l’image du PM. Il s’y emploie. Il donne une longue interview au Times de Londres ce jour, où il détaille les avantages des susdites special relationships, et surtout l’influence secrète mais remarquable, — si, il nous en assure et nous rassure là-dessus, — que Londres exerça sur Washington.

Mais ce qui fait les choux gras du Times, malgré tout (et malgré la constante sollicitude que ce journal éprouve pour Blair), c’est ce qui fait un peu sensation : les révélations de Manning sur l’embarras de Tony Blair d’avoir reçu une médaille du Congrès pour services rendus à la cause transatlantique via l’Irak. Blair, accusé si souvent d’être un poodle (un caniche) de GW Bush, craignait que la réception physique et solennelle de cette médaille pût le rendre encore plus poodle aux yeux de ses détracteurs. Au reste, un point intéressant à noter est la révélation de Manning que le départ de Tony Blair a été accéléré par cette réputation de poodle si laborieusement acquise durant ces cinq dernières années.

«Tony Blair has felt unable to pick up his US Congressional Gold Medal of Honour for four years partly because the ceremony would reinforce the prejudices of those convinced he was “some sort of poodle”, says Sir David Manning, Britain’s Ambassador in Washington.

»The Prime Minister’s 1,351-day delay in collecting the medal from President Bush has long been a source of puzzlement in both Washington and London. Downing Street insists that it is still being designed.

»But as Mr Blair prepares to leave office, Sir David told The Times in a rare interview that the Prime Minister “always had inhibitions” about being handed a medal that was awarded shortly after the invasion of Iraq at his triumphant address to both houses of Congress in July 2003.

»Sir David — who was Downing Street’s chief foreign policy adviser in the run-up to the invasion — seeks to tackle perceptions about Britain’s relationship with America and that between the two leaders, whose place in history is likely to be defined by the Iraq war.

»“For those who are convinced that the Prime Minister is . . . some sort of poodle, it does not matter what he does,” says Sir David, who will finish his four-year stint as Ambassador this autumn. “You reach the point where if he had collected the medal, people would say that proves their point. But it’s a much better — a much more complicated relationship — it’s a two-way street.”

(…)

»Mr Blair’s medal, awarded by Congress for his support for American foreign policy, has become an unfortunate symbol — a heavy burden around his neck.

»Sir David says that Mr Blair has always been reluctant to accept any award while still in office and predicts that he will receive the medal “when he is a private citizen”. That day is looming and it has come earlier than it might have done were it not for the closeness of his relationship with Mr Bush.»

Mis en ligne le 26 avril 2007 à 14H04