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4-8-2003 Scotsman Blair's cure for the summertime blues By Gethin Chamberlain Diplomatic Correspondent CLEMENT Attlee favoured English seaside resorts and Harold Wilson was happy to while away the summer months at his bungalow in the Scillies, but for Tony Blair, settling in for the first week of his summer holidays on Barbados, the lure of the foreign sun has always proved too strong to resist. Like a migratory bird, something in his make-up tells him it is time to head off to warmer climes. And like the crowds of British holidaymakers who flock to the costas or the Greek Islands at this time of year, the Prime Minister knows a bargain when he sees it. In previous years he has been happy to accept the hospitality of Italian politicians with holiday homes in Tuscany; this year it is Sir Cliff Richard who has kindly made way for Britain's political first family to leave their troubles behind and decamp from dreary Downing Street. The singer has made available his luxurious villa on the Sugar Hill estate on the island's west coast for the duration of the Blair summer break; glorious views, privacy and a chance to relax in idyllic surroundings on the Platinum Coast come as part of the three-week package. Sir Cliff, however, appears unlikely to be dropping by to knock about with Mr Blair on the villa's tennis court, having reportedly told friends that he was "sickened" by what happened to the government scientist Dr David Kelly. Mr Blair is not the first politician to be tempted by the delights of Barbados; after resigning as prime minister, Sir Anthony Eden bought a house in the hills, Villa Nova, where he played host to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Margaret. But in a year in which war with Iraq has created friction within his own party and with other European leaders, and with the Kelly inquiry hanging over his head, Mr Blair's jetsetting appears to be out of step. The Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, is heading for Scotland, as is Gordon Brown, who has ditched his traditional summer holiday in Cape Cod in Massachusetts because of his wife Sarah's pregnancy. Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, cancelled his Italian holiday and headed for Hanover after a row with Italy's tourism minister; the Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi plumped for Portofino and Russia's Vladimir Putin has a holiday home on the Black Sea coast. Even France's Jacques Chirac, a man who enjoys a jaunt overseas as much as any foreign leader, has compromised by selecting the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Among Mr Blair's high-profile Commons contemporaries, only his Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, heading off to an undisclosed location rather than attending Dr Kelly's funeral, and the Lib Dems' Charles Kennedy, who is off to Spain, have bucked the trend. Many of Mr Blair's predecessors were happy to spend most of their leisure time on these shores. Attlee in particular would have been amazed at the Blairs' globetrotting. He was happy to spend his summer holidays in a Weymouth boarding house or with family in North Wales, reading a book or playing golf while his children played cricket on the beach. Neville Chamberlain was content to spend time on the banks of Britain's rivers, idling the days away fishing. Sometimes he would stay with his cousin Sir Ernest Debenham in Dorset. Harold Macmillan could be found playing golf in Perthshire; David Lloyd George was not averse to a camping holiday in North Wales. The Wilsons, Harold and Mary, spent many of their breaks in the bungalow they bought for GBP 200 in St Mary's, the largest of the Scilly isles. Margaret Thatcher was notoriously difficult to prise away from Downing Street, though she did sometimes allow herself to be lured to Cornwall. John Major did treat himself to a South African safari, but chose the Norfolk coast when he was looking for a retirement cottage. Still, Mr Blair can take some comfort from the knowledge that he is not the first Prime Minister to seek refuge abroad. Eden, who was never one to stay at home, was widely pilloried for holidaying in Jamaica after the Suez crisis, with Randolph Churchill observing that "not even Hitler wintered in Jamaica during the battle of Stalingrad". Edward Heath went wherever his dinghy would take him, and was happy to be photographed in the south of France and Barbados, while Winston Churchill put his feet up at the Miami Beach Surf Club in Florida. Even Stanley Baldwin ventured as far as Aix-les-Bains in the French Alps.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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