Tony Blair is at last ready to receive the highest honour that the American Congress can bestow on a foreign leader.

The former British Prime Minister will next week be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush for his unswerving loyalty to the United States during his ten years in office.

He is also now said to be waiting to hear when he can pick up the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour, awarded to him in 2003 in recognition of his “steadfast stand against evil”.

The Times understands that Mr Blair has approved the design of of the medal, which is made specially by the US Federal Mint, and is expecting to be told soon when he will be expected to collect it.

Each medal is designed and minted individually, and that process has been put forward as one of the reasons for the delay in Mr Blair’s receiving it.

It was always assumed that Mr Blair declined to accept the award during his period as prime minister for fear of giving weight to prejudices that he was a “poodle” of the United States during the Iraq war.

Friends pointed out today that there was no reluctance on his part to collect the award. They emphasised that the Congressional Gold Medal was an honour bestowed by the US Congress and not a personal award from the President. It was originally given to military leaders and was first awarded to George Washington in 1776.

Sir David Manning, former British Ambassador to Washington and foreign policy adviser to Mr Blair, has accepted that there were difficulties over Mr Blair taking the award while he was still in office.

Mr Blair will receive the presidential medal next week from Mr Bush along with President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia and John Howard, the former Prime Minster of Australia.

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