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For a man derided by his critics as “Bush's poodle”, it is perhaps brave of Tony Blair to appear in a White House video featuring the US President's pet dogs.

Mr Blair plays a cameo role in the White House's annual Christmas home movie, which for the past five years has starred Mr Bush's Scottish terrier, Barney.

This year's video, which gives a dog's view of the White House and its occupants courtesy of the “Barney Cam”, features Mr Blair, Miss Beazley, the Bushes' other Scottish terrier, and the Bushes' twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara. Mr Blair's appearance in Barney Cam VI: Holiday in the National Parks is the first time any world leader, past or present, has shared a video screen with Barney.

The film highlights Mr Bush's love of America's National Parks and his plan to invest more than $1billion (£490million) in them over the next decade.

In it, Barney and Miss Beazley try to become junior park rangers. When they succeed, Barney “sees” Mr Blair saying: “Congratulations, Barney and Miss Beazley, on becoming junior park rangers. Well done. As someone born in Edinburgh, Scotland, it's always good to see the Scots doing well.” Karl Rove, Mr Bush's former political adviser, who left the White House this year, revealed that Barney is not liked by Mr Bush's staff, who regard him as spoilt and aloof.

The first Barney Cam White House Christmas video appeared in 2002, shortly after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, when public tours of the White House were suspended. The films highlight Barney's enormous power inside the Bush family — he is often seen ignoring Mr Bush's orders — as part of an attempt to soften the President's image.

Mr Blair's critics might note the deference with which Mr Bush treats Barney, in contrast to the way he addressed Mr Blair at the G8 summit in Russia last year, when a microphone caught him shouting to the former Prime Minister: “Yo, Blair!”

Mr Bush has referred to Barney in speeches as “the son I never had”. He has clearly taken to heart the advice of a White House predecessor, Harry Truman, who said: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

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