In spite of their ideological closeness, Tony Blair later said he found it more difficult to deal with the Third Way Democrat Bill Clinton than he did with the "straightforward" Republican George W Bush.
Blair's greatest success was persuading the president to commit US forces to peacekeeping in the Balkans but he also did Clinton significant personal service.
John Major got off to a bad start with Bill Clinton after Conservative sources tried to help the Republican campaign dig up dirt on Clinton's time as a student at Oxford.
But both sides were apprehensive when the Labour prime minister flew to Camp David for his first meeting with the second President Bush.
Historically the UK prime minister has often been the first foreign leader welcomed by a new US president.
