I'll be back
- 1 Aug 06, 08:39 AM
Los Angeles: Move over George. Tony Blair has a new American friend.
Yes, it's Arnie - the movie star turned Governor of California - who these days is known as the "emissions terminator". This battler against climate change today signed an agreement with the prime minister to work together to save the planet.
Arnie praised Tony as an inspiration and a great leader. Both men agree that science and technology will produce the answers to climate change. They want jointly to investigate the technology and the incentives for the private sector to come up with those answers.
Tony Blair's new American friend has a very different view from his old one. George Bush's administration still casts doubt on the scientific basis for concern. Though a Republican, Governor Schwarzenegger is scathing. He says the debate is over although, he adds, there are "people who doubt it and who think the world is flat". Arnie and Tony are agreed on the need to pursue another Bush bete-noire - stem cell research.
The prime minister says that developing links with California - which would be one of the world's biggest economies were it a country - is good for British jobs. Some wonder though whether this trip's also about his search for a job once he leaves Number Ten. Governor Schwarzenegger - the man who's already had a few careers - was asked if he could give some advice for a prime minister contemplating a career change. He could and suggested that the PM could be the Head of the UN or, if he fancied Hollywood, Terminator 4.
Mr Blair insisted that was the best job offer he'd had and then, added hastily, "the only offer".
When British reporters - including this one - asked tough questions about Israel and the Lebanon, Arnie came to Tony's aid. "It's amazing," he said, and then added sarcastically, "I like the optimism... it's very nice".
After that Californian endorsement, Tony Blair wouldn't be human if he didn't think "I'll be back".
