“You wanna translate?” said President Bush as he concluded his remarks standing beside the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. No need: it was quite clear from Dubya’s repeated bland thanks to Merkel for her “leadership” that the message had already been passed over. No specific deal on carbon emissions, at least not this time. Merkel had hoped to seal a G8 deal for a 50 per cent cut by 2050, but no dice from Bush. As Tony Blair made abundantly clear in his interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson the game in Heiligendamm is about tone and trajectory, not specific statistical goals. The PM believes he has got Bush to turn the tanker of American policy on climate change, and, with only three weeks to go till he leaves Downing Street, that will do him.
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