Yo, Blair
Encyclopedia
"Yo, Blair. What are you doing?" was an informal greeting that United States President
George W. Bush
gave to British Prime Minister Tony Blair
during the summit of the Group of Eight
industrialized nations ("G8
") in St Petersburg, Russia
, on 17 July 2006. The quote gained wide popularity across the media.
Yo, Blair! is the title of a polemic
al 2006 book by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
, attacking Blair on various issues, particularly his relationship with Bush.
There was considerable interest both in the "Yo, Blair" phrase itself and in the ensuing impromptu conversation which, although supposedly private, was picked up by a microphone. In the course of the exchange, Bush, among other things, thanked Blair for the gift of a sweater and, more importantly, referred to an armed conflict that had just broken out in Lebanon
between Israel
i forces and the Shi'a group Hezbollah ("What they need to do is get Syria
to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit").
Although the greeting was popularized as "Yo, Blair", some media outlets such as The New York Times
and The Washington Post
transcribed it as "Yeah, Blair".
(2007) for the Oxford University Press
, the lexicographer Susie Dent
devoted over half a page to the term, including some of the references below.
When Blair rose to make a statement in the House of Commons
on 19 July 2006, he was greeted with cries from the Opposition benches of "Yo!". A cartoon by Gerald Scarfe
in The Sunday Times
showed Bush in a rocking chair, dressed as a sheriff
, directing his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
, "Yo, Condi. Better go check out that sh*t [sic]. Don't hurry".
", in which Bush, atop scenes of devastation, disbursed unequal quantities of munitions for Israel and aid for Lebanon. A small, plaintive Blair looked on and, raising his hand, asked, "Yo George. I just wondered if I might have a word?".
"Yo George", the highly political first track on Tori Amos' 2007 album American Doll Posse
, is a direct reference to the "Yo, Blair" incident.
began its regular spoof letter from the vicar
of St Albion's
parish church (the Rev. A.R.P. Blair, M.A.) with the greeting, "Yo!". The ensuing epistle contained a range of variants, "Yo, Running Scared", "Yo Vicar" and "Yo, Dubya" (the latter invoking a well established play on Bush's middle initial).
" has been used as an exclamation to attract attention since the 15th century, as in the cry, "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" in Robert Louis Stevenson
's Treasure Island (1883). In the early 20th century "yo" was used in lower middle class British slang as a "declaration of admiration ... to the softer sex by the sterner". From the late 20th century it frequently appeared in hip hop music
and became associated with African American Vernacular English
and also Afro-Caribbeans.
Former British Government Minister Denis MacShane
observed that "Yo, Blair" was the American equivalent of "wotcher, mate" and that metaphorically Bush and Blair had been addressing each other using the French informal tu ("you") (as opposed to the more formal vous).
reflected that "Iraq, and more recently Lebanon, have totally sidelined us. We have far less influence than we had. That 'Yo, Blair' exchange ... was so humiliating". Towards the end of 2006 an analyst at the US State Department, Kendall Myers
(who has since been charged with spying for Cuba), was widely quoted as claiming that, despite British efforts, "we typically ignore them - it's a sad business".
Following a meeting in Washington
between Bush and Blair on 28 July to discuss the situation in Lebanon, cartoonist for The Times
Neil Bennett, depicted, above the caption, "Gifts were exchanged before the Washington summit", a Burberry bag (an allusion to "Yo Blair") being swapped for a tin of dog food marked "Pedigree Chum". This was a reference to the charge of some that Blair had been acting as America's "poodle" (a metaphor which, though widely used towards the end of July 2006, had been used in British politics since at least 1907 (when David Lloyd George
referred to the British House of Lords
as "Mr Balfour
's Poodle").
In May 2007 Bush denied that Blair was his "poodle", but remarked on his "dogged" style of leadership, while Blair's biographer Anthony Seldon
(whose painstaking two-volume work does not challenge "Yo, Blair" as the words used by Bush) took the view that the episode at St Petersburg did not justify the conclusion that Blair was Bush's "poodle", nor that "subservience" should be "read into the initial salutation". Seldon noted that, when greeting Blair at the White House, he would typically welcome him with arms outstretched, yelling "Hey. Blair. How y'doing'?"
summit in Toyako, Japan
, while speaking with Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, Bush summoned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
with a brusque "Yo Harper!" Much like in the UK, political and public reaction has been divided between this being an indication of the close relationship between the two, the subservience of Harper or simply another example of the "folksy" disposition of Bush.
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
gave to British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
during the summit of the Group of Eight
32nd G8 summit
The 32nd summit of the G8 group of industrialised nations took place from 15 July to 17 July 2006 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The venue was the Constantine Palace, which is located in Strelna on the Gulf of Finland...
industrialized nations ("G8
G8
The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
") in St Petersburg, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, on 17 July 2006. The quote gained wide popularity across the media.
Yo, Blair! is the title of a polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
al 2006 book by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft is a British journalist and writer.- Education :He was educated at University College School, London, and at New College Oxford, where he read Modern History.- Publishing and journalism :...
, attacking Blair on various issues, particularly his relationship with Bush.
The "Yo Blair" text
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i forces and the Shi'a group Hezbollah ("What they need to do is get Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit").
Although the greeting was popularized as "Yo, Blair", some media outlets such as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
transcribed it as "Yeah, Blair".
"Yo, Blair" as a catchphrase
"Yo, Blair" or "Yo, [any surname]" almost immediately became a catchphrase in Britain. In her annual language reportLanguage Report
The Language Report was an account of the state and use of the English language published by the Oxford University Press in 2003...
(2007) for the Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, the lexicographer Susie Dent
Susie Dent
Susie Dent is an English lexicographer, well known as the resident dictionary expert and adjudicator on Channel 4’s long-running game show Countdown. As of January 2009, she is the longest-serving member of the current on-screen team, having first appeared on the show in 1992.Dent was educated at...
devoted over half a page to the term, including some of the references below.
When Blair rose to make a statement in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
on 19 July 2006, he was greeted with cries from the Opposition benches of "Yo!". A cartoon by Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Anthony Scarfe, CBE, RDI, is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He worked as editorial cartoonist for The Sunday Times and illustrator for The New Yorker...
in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
showed Bush in a rocking chair, dressed as a sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, directing his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
, "Yo, Condi. Better go check out that sh*t [sic]. Don't hurry".
"Yo George"
This was the subject of a cartoon by Scarfe, reflecting on the Anglo-American "special relationshipSpecial relationship
The Special Relationship is a phrase used to describe the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, following its use in a 1946 speech by British statesman Winston Churchill...
", in which Bush, atop scenes of devastation, disbursed unequal quantities of munitions for Israel and aid for Lebanon. A small, plaintive Blair looked on and, raising his hand, asked, "Yo George. I just wondered if I might have a word?".
"Yo George", the highly political first track on Tori Amos' 2007 album American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos; it was released in 2007. Like her previous albums Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk , American Doll Posse is a concept album, which entails five female personae Amos developed based on Greek mythology. Musically,...
, is a direct reference to the "Yo, Blair" incident.
"Yo Vicar": Private Eye
Predictably, the satirical magazine Private EyePrivate Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
began its regular spoof letter from the vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of St Albion's
St Albion Parish News
St Albion Parish News was a regular feature in the British satirical magazine Private Eye during the premiership of Tony Blair. It was in the Private Eye tradition of featuring a fortnightly column lampooning the Prime Minister of the day and their close associates, seemingly written in a gossipy...
parish church (the Rev. A.R.P. Blair, M.A.) with the greeting, "Yo!". The ensuing epistle contained a range of variants, "Yo, Running Scared", "Yo Vicar" and "Yo, Dubya" (the latter invoking a well established play on Bush's middle initial).
"Yo" as slang
"YoYo
Yo is an English slang interjection, commonly associated with American English. It was highly popularized after being used commonly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since the 1970s.-Common usage:...
" has been used as an exclamation to attract attention since the 15th century, as in the cry, "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" in Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's Treasure Island (1883). In the early 20th century "yo" was used in lower middle class British slang as a "declaration of admiration ... to the softer sex by the sterner". From the late 20th century it frequently appeared in hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and became associated with African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
and also Afro-Caribbeans.
Former British Government Minister Denis MacShane
Denis MacShane
Denis MacShane is a British politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rotherham since the 1994 by-election and served as the Minister for Europe from 2002 until 2005, as well as being a current Policy Council member for Labour Friends of Israel.On 14 October 2010, it was announced...
observed that "Yo, Blair" was the American equivalent of "wotcher, mate" and that metaphorically Bush and Blair had been addressing each other using the French informal tu ("you") (as opposed to the more formal vous).
"Pedigree Chum"
Some commentators detected in the "Yo Blair" encounter an air of condescension on Bush's part. For example, former British Foreign Secretary and NATO Secretary-General Lord CarringtonPeter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington
Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, is a British Conservative politician. He served as British Foreign Secretary between 1979 and 1982 and as the sixth Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988. He is the last surviving member of the Cabinets of both Harold Macmillan and Sir...
reflected that "Iraq, and more recently Lebanon, have totally sidelined us. We have far less influence than we had. That 'Yo, Blair' exchange ... was so humiliating". Towards the end of 2006 an analyst at the US State Department, Kendall Myers
Kendall Myers
Walter Kendall Myers is a retired U.S. State Department Officer who, with his wife, Gwendolyn, was arrested and indicted on June 4, 2009, on charges of nearly 30 years of spying for Cuba.-Background:...
(who has since been charged with spying for Cuba), was widely quoted as claiming that, despite British efforts, "we typically ignore them - it's a sad business".
Following a meeting in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
between Bush and Blair on 28 July to discuss the situation in Lebanon, cartoonist for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
Neil Bennett, depicted, above the caption, "Gifts were exchanged before the Washington summit", a Burberry bag (an allusion to "Yo Blair") being swapped for a tin of dog food marked "Pedigree Chum". This was a reference to the charge of some that Blair had been acting as America's "poodle" (a metaphor which, though widely used towards the end of July 2006, had been used in British politics since at least 1907 (when David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
referred to the British House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
as "Mr Balfour
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
's Poodle").
In May 2007 Bush denied that Blair was his "poodle", but remarked on his "dogged" style of leadership, while Blair's biographer Anthony Seldon
Anthony Seldon
Dr. Anthony F. Seldon MA, PhD, FRSA, MBA, FRHistS is a political commentator best known as Tony Blair's biographer and the Master of Wellington College...
(whose painstaking two-volume work does not challenge "Yo, Blair" as the words used by Bush) took the view that the episode at St Petersburg did not justify the conclusion that Blair was Bush's "poodle", nor that "subservience" should be "read into the initial salutation". Seldon noted that, when greeting Blair at the White House, he would typically welcome him with arms outstretched, yelling "Hey. Blair. How y'doing'?"
Harper event
On Monday July 7, 2008 at the 34th annual G8G8
The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
summit in Toyako, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, while speaking with Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, Bush summoned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
with a brusque "Yo Harper!" Much like in the UK, political and public reaction has been divided between this being an indication of the close relationship between the two, the subservience of Harper or simply another example of the "folksy" disposition of Bush.
See also
- United Kingdom as the 51st state
- Special relationshipSpecial relationshipThe Special Relationship is a phrase used to describe the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, following its use in a 1946 speech by British statesman Winston Churchill...
- Anglo-American relationsAnglo-American relationsBritish–American relations encompass many complex relations over the span of four centuries, beginning in 1607 with England's first permanent colony in North America called Jamestown, to the present day, between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of...
- Foreign relations of the United KingdomForeign relations of the United KingdomThe diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are implemented by the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UK was the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Throughout history it has wielded significant influence upon other nations via the British...
- Foreign relations of the United StatesForeign relations of the United StatesThe United States has formal diplomatic relations with most nations. The United States federal statutes relating to foreign relations can be found in Title 22 of the United States Code.-Pacific:-Americas:-Caribbean:...
External links
- Transcript: Bush and Blair's unguarded chat (BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 18 July 2006). A revised version was published in the Times, 22 July 2006. - Jon StewartJon StewartJon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
analyzes the Yo Blair incident (2nd video on the page)