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The week on the web
Andrew Alexander
The sentencing of Saddam Hussein on Sunday could, as Sir Malcolm Rifkind was suggesting by Thursday's Question Time, have been timed to give the Republicans a lift in the US midterm elections.
If so, it was to little effect. The loss of both houses of Congress to the Democrats had been anticipated by many, and British commentators had been predicting a knock-on effect for Tony Blair.
The newly-established BritainandAmerica.com, which aims to counter what it sees as an anti-American, pro-Democrat bias in the BBC and other UK news sources, says American elections can have a bigger impact on Britain than our own.
It points out that any isolationist or protectionist moves by the US will affect the whole would.
Sky's Adam Boulton blogs that "security is not working for the incumbents any more", predicting that the gloves are truly off for critics of Blair's Iraq policy.
The BBC's Nick Robinson says Blair could be facing the "nightmare" situation of being the last one left still insisting there's no need to change course in Iraq.
According to Robinson, some in the Labour Party are wondering if they could face the same fate as the Republicans in next May's local elections.
PA's Daniel Davies at Tiger Tales has a similar thought, connecting the midterms to next year's Welsh assembly election - with voters preparing to give Blair a bloody nose because, in Rhodri Morgan's words, they are "angry about everything from pot holes to Iraq".
Before parliament prorogued ahead of schedule on Wednesday after some last minute deal-making over extradition to the US, the prime minister seemed unusually ruffled at his monthly press conference.
Nick Assinder points out what some of us thought we imagined - that Blair called a female reporter 'darling', while George Jones at the Telegraph's Commons Confidential blog saw the press conference as the clearest sign yet that "Blair no longer commands respect".
The big domestic story which has bubbled along all week has been 'cash-for-honours'.
The role of the attorney general was the focus at first - and Iain Dale thinks the BBC was wrong to rate news of Conservative councillor Ellenor Bland's sacking over a racist email above the honours story.
By the end of the week it looked clear that, with the rest of the cabinet already contacted by Scotland Yard, the investigation will alight on Blair eventually.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives found out via the Times and Populus that women voters are the key to Cameron's lead over Labour, while it looked increasingly unlikely that anyone would challenge Gordon Brown to become next Labour leader with news that Alan Johnson will not stand.
And ignoring the derisive tone to most reports about the eight trips that Leo Beckett, husband of the foreign secretary, has made abroad with his wife Margaret, Michael White in the Guardian asks how about a round of applause for the love birds?
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Published: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:33:50 GMT+00
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