The Strangest Phone Calls Between Tony Blair And Bill Clinton
"My staff won't let me talk to you unless I have a banana at hand. I'm sitting here with a banana; it's a big, ugly, brownish one."
Pa / PA Archive/Press Association Images
Transcripts of phone calls between then prime minister Tony Blair and US president Bill Clinton have been released, giving a strange insight into their attitudes, relationship, and appetite for eating moose lips.
The files, which cover calls between 1997 and 2000, were released by the Clinton Presidential Library, following a Freedom of Information request by BBC journalist Martin Rosenbaum.
Here are some of the stranger and more revealing moments in the transcript:
When Bill Clinton refuses to talk to Blair unless he is holding a banana.
Clinton Presidential Library
The time Clinton offers to babysit Blair's forthcoming child.
Clinton Presidential Library
The moment Clinton tells Blair about eating moose lips.
Clinton Memorial Library
The time Blair and Clinton compete for the biggest namedrop.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton makes a joke about "a real Tory aristocrat" being hidden under a "ruffled, intellectual demeanor".
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton discusses a Pink Panther film with Blair before trying to sort out Northern Ireland.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Blair jokes about something that we really hope didn't happen.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Blair has to pop out of a constituency surgery in a Durham working men's club to talk to the US president.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton compliments Blair on his choirboy good looks.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton talks about "pissing down legs" and bananas.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton calls Blair to offer his sympathies on the death of Princess Diana.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton talks about going hunting with beagles.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton made yet another reference to bananas.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton asks if he can move to Scotland, take UK citizenship, and have lots of cashmere jumpers.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton complains about his "rich yuppie friends".
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton makes *yet another* reference to both cashmere and bananas.
Clinton Presidential Library
When Clinton tells Blair to relax and have a glass of wine.
Clinton Presidential Library