London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

No 10 hired US lawyers to advise on Lewinsky scandal before Blair visit to US

No 10 hired US lawyers to advise on Lewinsky scandal before Blair visit to US

Newly released papers show Downing Street got advice on Bill Clinton’s legal position before 1998 Washington trip
No 10 hired US lawyers to advise on the legal position of the US president, Bill Clinton, at the time of the Monica Lewinsky scandal before Tony Blair’s official 1998 visit to Washington, previously secret documents reveal.

The British prime minister’s visit was overshadowed by Clinton’s relationship with the White House intern, with the UK’s US ambassador, Sir Christopher Meyer, describing Lewinsky in one cable as “the phantom at the feast”.

As Downing Street put finishing touches to Blair’s programme, Clinton had famously denied “sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” while the Drudge Report published allegations she had kept a stained dress.

The developments led No 10 to quietly drop plans for Cherie Blair to attend a Washington meeting on the White House intern scheme during the visit. Philip Barton, Blair’s private secretary, wrote to Cherie’s adviser, Fiona Millar: “I have been reflecting on the impact of the latest allegations about a White House intern. Do you think it would be prudent to drop this part of the programme for now, in case the press gets wind of it?”

A later memo, from Barton to the Washington embassy, noted: “For obvious reasons, we do not want a meeting on interns to appear in the programme.”

Blair flew to Washington in February 1998 at the height of special prosecutor Kenneth Starr’s wide-ranging investigation into the conduct of Clinton and his wife, Hillary. Starr had originally been appointed to look into the Clintons’ financial dealings but his inquiry had been expanded to cover allegations of sexual harassment made by Paula Jones, an Arkansas state government employee, and claims the president had an affair with Lewinsky.

A background briefing fax from John McInespie, a lawyer at the Washington law firm Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan LLP, on Clinton’s legal position. It said: “So far our people say that there is no ‘smoking gun’ to charge Clinton with anything, but that might not be the case by the time of the forthcoming visit of the prime minister.”

It added if Lewinsky stuck to her original affidavit, denying she and Clinton had sexual relations, then “all she has to do is face the embarrassment of being branded a “bullshitter – (a term of art)”, but if her lawyer got her full immunity, “this strategy is highly dangerous to President Clinton”.

The White House was grateful when Blair, at a joint White House press conference, publicly praised Clinton as “someone I am proud to call not just a colleague, but a friend”.

Meyer noted in a feedback cable: “The tension shown by Clinton and his staff before the press conference was matched only by their relief afterwards. Clinton was at his Houdini best.” Meyer added that Jim Steinberg, the deputy national security adviser, told him: “Your prime minister didn’t have to say what he did at the press conference. We owe you big time.” Meyer added: “The task will be to call in the debt at the right time.”

In another memo from Meyer to the Foreign Office, he said he had visited George W Bush in Texas, then considering running for president. “Bush admitted that, apart from Mexico, he did not know much about international affairs and that he would do well to broaden his experience,” Meyer wrote. Bush would go on to serve two terms as president between 2001 and 2009.

Bush remarked Blair “seemed like a good fellow”, Meyer added. “As the only other Labour politician he appeared to have heard of was Michael Foot, I offered a rapid potted history of how Labour had moved on since then.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×