Gordon Carrera

What he gets from Bush at that meeting is just a few weeks delay because President Bush is making it clear to him privately that the war is going to happen in March.

Tony Blair says, well, I think we need a second resolution from the UN to authorise war at the press conference after their meeting.

President Bush says, well, the second resolution would be welcome, but that's not the same as saying, I really want one and I'm going to work for it.

Effectively, the US is saying, we're giving up on inspections.

We don't think they're going to work.

Waiting for war.

And this is a very memorable scene for me because I was a producer at the Today program, Radio 4 at the time.

And I flew out with our presenter, James Nocatee, and we had a exclusive interview for the Today program with Tony Blair as he came out of that meeting with President Bush at Andrews Air Force Base.

And we were told to go to Andrews Air Force Base and wait for Blair where he was going to get his plane back to London.

So before we got on the plane, he was going to do an interview, four of us in this tiny room in Andrews Air Force Base, me and James Nocatee from the BBC, me holding the microphone.

And Tony Blair and one Alistair Campbell, podcaster, pre-podcast career, the four of us in the room.

this tiny room.

And what I remember is that Blair looked uneasy and uncomfortable and you could sense he was really unhappy.

And as soon as the mic went on and the questions started to be asked, he was in Blair mode and he was kind of brilliant performer as he always was.

But I could sense it.

And then years later, well, 20 years later, I interviewed him

for a series about Iraq.

And I asked him, did he feel trapped at that moment?

And he says, you're right.

I was uncomfortable because I could feel all the options were closing.