The Hindu : International : He is not cool to this puff

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

International

International

He is not cool to this puff

LONDON, MAY 1. As great leaders know only too well, it is best to never be seen in the proximity of an oddly-rolled cigarette. Denials that you ever inhaled are also compulsory.

So when the smell of marijuana reached the prime ministerial nostrils at dinner one evening, Tony Blair could have been forgiven for racing from the room.

But, as the source of the smoke, film director Robert Altman, reveals in the Guardian Weekend magazine, the relaxed prime minister did no such thing.

Sitting opposite Altman, Mr. Blair, who once said the one thing his father `drummed into' him was `never to take drugs,' continued to enjoy an intimate meal with some of his rock'n'roll idols.While Cherie Blair left early, Mr. Blair stayed behind.

When the after-dinner spliff was lit up, Mr. Blair did not partake, according to the 79-year-old Altman, but appeared to have no objections, even though it was in the days before cannabis was downgraded to a class C drug.

"We were sitting there smoking grass," Altman said. "He [Mr. Blair] was sitting across from me, so I thought he was pretty cool."

But he was later `disappointed' by Mr Blair's close relationship with President George Bush. He mistook the prime minister's `cool' for openness, he said, when it was in fact a pose. —

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