To the end, Bush and Blair stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair passionately defended one another and their wartime alliance on Thursday, saying they still believed they did the right thing by invading Iraq and had confidence that history would one day validate that decision.

In the sun-dappled Rose Garden, as protesters’ shouts echoed faintly in the distance, Blair made a last, nostalgia-tinged White House appearance as prime minister, collecting plaudits from the president whose friendship earned him derision in his homeland and may have hastened his exit from public life.

“Trying to do a tap dance on his political grave, aren’t you?” Bush chided two British journalists after they suggested the prime minister resign sooner than June 27, the day he has said he will step down after 10 years as prime minister.

“I have taken the view that Britain should stand shoulder to shoulder with America after Sept. 11. I have never deviated from that view,” Blair said, at times with obvious emotion. “I do not regret that view. I am proud of the relationship we have had.”

Blair, like Bush, watched his popularity sink as war losses mounted and the initial rationale for the invasion disintegrated. But whereas Blair’s support was a boon to Bush, Bush’s support for Blair was a drag on the prime minister.

“Am I to blame for his leaving?” Bush asked, paraphrasing a question. “I don’t know,” he answered defiantly.

Bush took pains to make Blair’s final visit to Washington a special one, hosting him overnight in the White House residence. Blair and his wife, Cherie, shared the Queen’s Bedroom, where Winston Churchill used to stay during World War II.

Both leaders seemed keenly aware of the historical context of their last White House meeting. Bush said he felt certain that historians would vindicate his decisions, even if they did so long after he was gone.

“I read three histories on George Washington last year,” Bush said. “It’s interesting to me that they’re still analyzing the presidency of our first president. And my attitude is, if they’re still analyzing 1, 43 doesn’t need to worry about it.”

For his part, Blair praised Bush, saying “I’ve admired him as a president and I regard him as a friend.”

Blair noted the chants of protesters that could be heard inside the Rose Garden as they were speaking, and he acknowledged that their words and slogans probably were “not totally complimentary to either of us.”

“One thing I know is that what we represent -- coming here today, speaking in the Rose Garden to you people and getting your questions and being under your pressure -- that is a finer and better way of life than either a brutal, secular dictatorship or religious extremism,” Blair said.

It was not the last time the two men were to meet as leaders; they are both to attend next month’s G8 summit in Germany.

It was, however, the last time Blair as prime minister would be hosted by the U.S. president.

Blair announced last week that he would tender his resignation as of June 27. On Thursday, members of Blair’s Labor Party formally chose Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown as his successor.

Bush said he looked forward to working with Brown, whom he called a “good fellow,” and he recalled how helpful Blair was when Bush was newly elected president six years ago.

“Tony Blair came over, he reached out, he was gracious -- was able to converse in a way where our shared interests were the most important aspect of the relationship,” Bush said. “I would hope I would provide the same opportunities for Gordon Brown.”

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maura.reynolds@latimes.com