UK News

Former British ambassador to the US critical of Tony Blair and George Bush dies

By Peter McLaren-Kennedy • 29 July 2022 • 10:34

President George W Bush and Sir Christopher Meyer - Image cc White House photo by Paul Morse

The former British ambassador to the US, Sir Christopher Meyer, has died at the age of 78.

According to a report by the Daily Mail on Friday, July 29, the ambassador suffered a stroke while on holiday in the French Alps with his wife, Catherine.

The death of Sir Meyer was confirmed on Twitter by the current ambassador Karen Pierce. She tweeted: “Very sad to see former British Ambassador to the US Christopher Meyer has died.

“He was one of my predecessors, but I first met him 30 years ago when we served under Robin Renwick.

“He was a great diplomat and a great character. All our thoughts are with Catherine and his family.”

Prior to his appointment as ambassador to the US, Sir Meyer had been the press secretary to then Conservative Prime Minister John Major. Appointed to the role in the US in 199, he became very critical of then Prime Minister Tony Blair for his support of George W Bush’s policies in Iraq.

Sir Meyer wrote in his memoirs that Bush had limited knowledge of world affairs, saying that the former president had said to him that outside of Mexico he had little understanding of the rest of the world.

He wrote: “Bush admitted that, apart from Mexico, he did not know much about international affairs and that he would do well to broaden his experience.”

Sir Meyer went on to become the chair of the Press Complaints Commission where he led the organisation through the phone hacking scandal and the jailing in 2007 of the News of the World reporter, Clive Goodman, and the enquiry agent, Glenn Mulcaire.

Despite lacking the powers to do more, he was heavily criticised for his handling of the case.

Sir Meyer, Former British ambassador to the US will be remembered long after his passing having dealt with many of the more difficult issues faced by the UK over the last 25 years.

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