It was ‘Gerry’ and ‘Bertie’ for leaders Blair and Clinton

TONY Blair and Bill Clinton were on a first-name basis with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and then taoiseach Bertie Ahern, it has emerged.

Transcripts released yesterday of phonecalls between the former British prime minister and former US president show they regularly referred to the Sinn Féin stalwart as ‘Gerry’, while Mr Ahern was simply ‘Bertie’.

However both men used surnames for the Unionist leaders involved in the peace process and would talk about ‘Trimble’ and ‘Paisley’ when referring to David Trimble and Ian Paisley.

The two men did have sympathy for some of David Trimble’s political difficulties. Mr Clinton referred to ‘all those crazies in his party’ and asked Mr Blair: ‘Do you think there is anything we can do to Trimble to stroke him?’

Transcripts of their phone calls between 1997 and 2000 were released yesterday and revealed how the two politicians chatted and joked like close friends. The phone records were released to the BBC under US Freedom of Information laws by the Clinton Presidential Library.

Mr Blair told Mr Clinton that Princess Diana’s death was ‘like a star falling’ as the two men shared worries about the future of Princes William and Harry in the hours after her fatal car crash in Paris. In a call on September 1, 1997, hours after Diana died, Mr Blair added ‘It’s a grim business, a very grim business.’

Mr Blair said: ‘We saw her again just weeks ago when we hosted her lunch with Prince William, he’s a great kid.’

Mr Clinton said: ‘Yeah, I worry a lot about those kids now.’