To my knowledge, Stelzer is the only policy adviser who can walk into the Prime Minister's office at will. But now he won't bother.

Stelzer has determined to deliver a nasty little dressing-down to the PM in public and nail George Bush's wish list to Blair's forehead with a rusty tack.

Rather than speak to his friend Tony directly, Stelzer chose the forum of the Times to deliver the word from Bush's team. In his column on 4 January Stelzer wrote, 'Tony Blair has lost two big bets and the British people will have to pay up.'