/ 2 August 2006

Blair on Schwarzenegger: ‘Body envy, actually’

He may be one of the most influential politicians in the world but even British Prime Minister Tony Blair succumbed to the larger-than-life charms of movie star turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Blair, on an official visit to Washington and California, met the former body-builder this week to launch an agreement between California and Britain to reduce global warming.

”I phoned my wife and she said to me, ‘How did you feel meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger?”’ Blair told guests at a Los Angeles luncheon on Tuesday.

”I said I felt acute body envy, actually,” confessed Blair, whose fitness regime consists of pounding the treadmill and the odd game of tennis.

Blair (53) also joked that he was astonished to learn that he was the first British prime minister in 150 years to have a legitimate child while in office. His wife Cherie gave birth to their fourth child, Leo, in May 2000.

”I don’t know what the hell the other prime ministers were doing, really,” Blair quipped. – Reuters