"Up the arse" and off to war

Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S. has come through with his version of events in "memoir" form. Today's Guardian includes two illuminating installments:

1. The first describes the beginning of the Bush/Blair relationship, from Feb 2001 until shortly after 9/11. I had no idea how upset Cherie Blair was about the 2000 (s)election of Bush. From the beginning, Meyer was tasked with getting "up the arse of the White House". Clearly the New Labourites were hoping for a Gore presidency. I don't know about the whole cabinet, but Blair seemed to warm towards W rather quickly in those early months. Cheney was a different story, of course.
2. The second installment is the more illustrative of the two: Meyer puts flesh onto those "Downing Street Minutes" bones. What emerges is frightening. Blair comes off as someone desperate to please Bush in those crucial months post 9/11. Meyer tells us of a mysterious phone-call from a former Clintonite just prior to the Sept 2002 Blair/Bush meeting at Camp David:

The familiar voice warned me that Cheney, Bush's sometimes intimidating vice-president, would be present throughout Blair's discussions with the president. "How the hell do you know?" I asked. "Don't ask, don't tell," was the enigmatic reply. "But Blair had better watch out." The voice was right. Cheney attended all the meetings, including those where Blair and Bush were alone with their closest aides.

The rest is mostly public knowledge but the reader is left with the clear impression that Blair had multiple opportunities to back-away or voice some reason and, instead, stood tragically mute.