Tony Blair, the closest world leader to George Bush, was this morning awarded "first friend" status by Barack Obama.

At the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Obama lavished praise on Blair, who was the principal speaker.

The former prime minister was welcomed as a "very good friend" by Mr Obama, as he gave a speech at the traditional National Prayer Breakfast.

Mr Obama praised Mr Blair as "somebody who did it first and perhaps did it better than I will do".

Mr Blair drew laughter when he told how he was not always appreciated so much in Britain. "I was reminded of this as I waited in London in the snow to fly to America and made the mistake of reading a British newspaper.

Blair then congratulated Obama for winning the BlackBerry battle.

“Great news about the BlackBerry,” Blair said laughing, recalling getting his first mobile phone after leaving office and sending his first text message.

After the address Mr Obama said: "I want to thank my good friend Tony Blair for coming today. He has been an example to so many people around the world of what dedicated leadership can accomplish."

 http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/obama-talks-god.html

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4528690/President-Barack-Obama-meets-Tony-Blair-before-Gordon-Brown.html

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/feb/05/blair-obama-first-friend

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7873000.stm