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."
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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.
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The time Clinton offers to babysit Blair's forthcoming child.
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The moment Clinton tells Blair about eating moose lips.
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The time Blair and Clinton compete for the biggest namedrop.
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When Clinton makes a joke about "a real Tory aristocrat" being hidden under a "ruffled, intellectual demeanor".
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When Clinton discusses a Pink Panther film with Blair before trying to sort out Northern Ireland.
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When Blair jokes about something that we really hope didn't happen.
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When Blair has to pop out of a constituency surgery in a Durham working men's club to talk to the US president.
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When Clinton compliments Blair on his choirboy good looks.
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When Clinton talks about "pissing down legs" and bananas.
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When Clinton calls Blair to offer his sympathies on the death of Princess Diana.
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When Clinton talks about going hunting with beagles.
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When Clinton made yet another reference to bananas.
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When Clinton asks if he can move to Scotland, take UK citizenship, and have lots of cashmere jumpers.
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When Clinton complains about his "rich yuppie friends".
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When Clinton makes *yet another* reference to both cashmere and bananas.
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When Clinton tells Blair to relax and have a glass of wine.
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