STANDING close to his good friend, now a second-term

US President, and in a near-identical dark suit, Tony Blair looked delighted at the words of praise and commitment coming from the neighbouring podium.

The Prime Minister “was a man of courage, unafraid to stand up for what he believes” despite the political risks. The Prime Minister “understands the importance of fighting terrorism and the crucial role of democracy”.

“The Prime Minister and I are committed to the cause of peace in the Middle East,” the President said.

But as Bill Clinton spoke, nearly seven years ago and on the very spot where President Bush uttered almost identical comments yesterday, the political fortunes of Tony Blair could not have been more different, and the roles of the British Prime Minister and US President more reversed.

On February 8, 1998, still in the afterglow of his first electoral triumph, Mr Blair had made his inaugural prime ministerial visit to Washington in the form of a rescuing cavalryman, standing “shoulder to shoulder” (yes, Mr Clinton even used Churchill’s phrase) with a President mired in the Monica Lewinsky scandal and fighting for his political life.

Time and again, Mr Blair tried to turn the questioners away from their seamier inquiries and towards Iraq, the Middle East and the US economy. It was such an unstinting effort to dig Mr Clinton out of a hole that, as the two men left the White House East Room, Mr Clinton turned to his counterpart and said: “I’m going to make sure you’re proud of what you did in there.”

If a week is a long time in politics, then seven years is an eternity.

With perhaps less than seven months until he faces a now deeply sceptical British electorate for a third time, Mr Blair was desperate yesterday for Mr Bush to dig him out of his own political hole, and how graphically it showed.

As the two approached their podiums, Mr Blair wore a rictus smile, and was visibly tense. Mr Bush looked almost languorous, as befitted a man who has just won re-election and will not have to face the judgment of his people again.

It was only last July that after a triumphant speech to the assembled might of the US Congress, Mr Blair, hugely admired in America, stood next to Mr Bush to help to articulate their Iraq policy. Then, he did most of the talking, and was widely seen among the US media as one of Mr Bush’s greatest electoral assets. Yesterday Mr Bush did most of the talking. He heaped praise on the man at his side, a man of “unshakeable convictions”, a “big thinker with a clear vision”, a “strong, capable man”, who when “things get tough, doesn’t wilt”.

If Mr Blair had asked for a firm US commitment from Mr Bush to focus on achieving Middle East peace, of seizing the day in the wake of Yassir Arafat’s death, he got it.

Mr Bush, who last week spoke of the “political capital” he had earned with his re-election, said that he intended to spend the political capital of the US to create a Palestinian state.

Mr Bush said he would also work “to deepen transatlantic ties”. He would soon visit Europe. Time and again, as he spoke, he turned to Mr Blair, nodding at him, almost as if saying to the gathered British press: “You want payback over Iraq? Well, listen to this.”

Mr Blair is almost out of political capital. He must be. It was not that long ago that appearing with Mr Bush was a political risk. Now it is a necessity.

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