Bye-Bye, Blair! British Prime Minister Stands Down

LONDON, May 10, 2007 — -- When he took office as British prime minister, Tony Blair was 43, the same age John F. Kennedy was when he became president of the United States.

Blair's version of Camelot was dubbed Cool Brittania. In the early days, its signature moment, already immortalized by Hollywood in last year's blockbuster movie "The Queen," was his heartfelt tribute to Princess Diana after her death in 1997.

"She was the people's princess and that's how she will remain," he said in an address to the nation.

Blair rose to the occasion as he tried to console the grief-stricken nation.

"That was the first moment in which he really had to articulate what the country was feeling and thinking. People felt he did it very, very well," his former press secretary Alastair Campbell told ABC News.

But Blair, who once was recognized on the international stage as former President Clinton's sidekick, began to fall from grace during the Bush administration years and was even referred to as Bush's "poodle" in the British press.

But in America's darkest hour, Blair stood by Britain's ally and vowed to fight.

In a speech shortly after Sept. 11, he proclaimed: "This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetuated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life and we the democracies of this world are going to have to come together to fight together and eradicate this evil completely from our world."

When the Bush administration later pushed for war in Iraq, Blair pushed too and it was appreciated.

"America has no better friend," Bush famously said of Britain.

The decision to go to war cost Blair dearly at home, and his legacy of other work is now all but eclipsed by the war in Iraq. It's a decision Blair continues to stand by, recently defending himself in an interview with the BBC.

"Look I don't feel that I'm doing the wrong thing. I may not be doing the easy thing, but I'm doing the right thing," he said.

Simon Jenkins, a Guardian columnist, summed up his predicament.

"He still can't quite believe that he can't persuade the British that the Iraq War was a good idea. But he can't. He hasn't," Jenkins told ABC News.