Just Another Celebrity

The Reverend Blair's public relations department has apparently informed him that, in between redeeming smokers and protecting God from slander, he could do with exercising the personal touch; so, having nothing more important to do, he has duly become the first prime minister to be interviewed by Michael Parkinson while still in office.

The Reverend had a gush about Bill Clinton, calling him "the best politician I've ever come across". George W Bush he called "extremely straightforward to deal with" which, from one politician to another, does not seem particularly respectful. The Reverend also said of Bush that "what he says, he does" which, since Bush's Oath of Office includes the handy disclaimer "to the best of my ability", may well be true.

The Reverend also spoke about a Good Turn he did for a mother whose daughter was facing a heart operation. "She said her daughter was terrified about it, and the only person she knew that had had it was me. So would I speak to her about it? I did, I gave her a call: 'It's not so bad, you know.'" Besides helping to explain why the Reverend has so little time for the relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq, this incident also shows his interesting, if hardly unique, interpretation of Matthew VI i-iii.

It seems that the "24/7 media is one of the toughest parts" of the prime minister's job although, as with the war crimes, it does not deprive him of sleep. Presumably, then, the interview is a reluctant addition to the legacy list; all the more so as, in the judgement of Labour MP Stephen Pound, who evidently ought to know, the Reverend was "excruciatingly honest". The Reverend was commenting about the political decision to invade Iraq, so Pound assured Newsnight that "his comments should be taken as apolitical".