UK: Blair’s son’s work for US Republicans

From the Google cache.

UK: Blair’s son to work for US Republicans

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Date: 6/26/05 at 8:10AM

The BBC reports:

Saturday, 25 June, 2005

Euan Blair accepts US internship

Euan Blair, the [UK] prime minister’s eldest son, is to work in Washington DC as an intern for Republican politicians.

The 21-year-old will spend three months working for the Committee on Rules in the House of Representatives – the lower chamber of the US Congress.

The move has surprised Democrats, who see the committee as highly partisan, says the Sunday Telegraph. …

‘Partisan’

… The Sunday Telegraph claimed Californian congressman David Dreier, chair of the committee, would be Euan’s mentor.

Mr Dreier was a part of the team assembled by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to help the state tackle its economic crisis in 2003.

The newspaper reported the move had prompted surprise among Democrat politicians, who see the UK’s Labour Party as their natural ally.

An aide to congresswoman Louise Slaughter, the leading Democrat on the committee, described it as “one of the most partisan” in Congress.

Eric Burns told the newspaper: “It is extremely surprising that the son of a Labour prime minister would intern with the Republican majority staff on the committee.”

Downing Street said British diplomats had been involved in the process.

From Reuters:

The news comes a few weeks after Blair’s wife Cherie came under fire for giving a well-paid speech in Washington at the same time as the Prime Minister visited the White House.

From Scotland on Sunday:

Questions were already being raised last night about how Blair had secured the highly sought-after position, particularly in the light of the close relationship between Bush and the Prime Minister. …

Reports last night claimed that the decision to offer the post had been taken at a senior level – and not by the junior staff who usually decide on the trainee posts. …

Blair’s three month internship remains a distant dream for most of the 100,000 bright young Americans who each year apply for a post. Only one in 20 is selected. Foreign internees are extremely rare.

Euan Blair is mainly known for being drunk in public. Soon, news of an engagement with George W. Bush’s twin daughters?

Like the parallels between Margaret Thatcher’s and Blair’s policies, Euan Blair starts to remind me of Mark Thatcher.

January 2007 update: later, Euan Blair had a conflict with US Democrats.