Syria’s deposed president Bashar al Assad wasn’t at all times condemned as a pariah by the UK authorities.
This week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed his fall, declaring Syrians had “put up with his brutal regime for far, far too long”.
Nevertheless it was a special story again within the early days of Assad’s regime, when Tony Blair made extraordinary efforts to court docket him.
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He visited Syria, the president visited the UK and met the Queen and it was later reported that Assad was even thought of for an honorary knighthood.
All this was as a result of when he succeeded his father, Hafez al Assad, as president in 2000, Mr Blair regarded him as a moderniser and reformer he might do enterprise with.
And so, in diplomatic strikes that will later have been unthinkable, Mr Blair visited Damascus in 2001 after which welcomed him to Downing Avenue in 2002.
Relations between the UK and Syria had been so cordial in these days that Assad was even given the honour of a gathering with the Queen throughout his go to to London.
However the Blair courtship started earlier than the younger Assad succeeded his late father. Simply months after Labour’s 1997 election victory, the federal government’s Center East minister, Derek Fatchett, was despatched to Syria.
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Bashar al Assad and his spouse Asma had lunch with Tony and Cherie Blair 22 years in the past. Pic: PA
The next 12 months, then international secretary Robin Prepare dinner visited and through Mr Blair’s first time period there have been extra ministerial visits, together with by Mr Blair’s closest ally Peter Mandelson.
Labour minister Peter Hain informed parliament in 2000 that Assad was a pacesetter with “a lot of vision and a modern outlook” who knew Britain effectively and was “well placed to lead Syria forward”.
And after Mr Mandelson visited Syria in 2001, he claimed Assad was an “intelligent and cultured individual” who needed to rescue his nation “from economic backwardness”.
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Asma al Assad meets Mr Blair on the doorstep of 10 Downing Avenue in 2002. Pic: Matthew Fearn/PA Archive
To be truthful, Mr Mandelson additionally mentioned the UK and Syria disagreed on the themes of Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas.
There have been navy hyperlinks too. In 1998, HMS Marlborough grew to become the primary Royal Navy frigate to go to Syria in 48 years, adopted by HMS Edinburgh in 1999 and HMS Northumberland in 2000.
And when Mr Blair visited, shortly after his second landslide election victory in 2001, it was the first-ever go to to Syria by a British prime minister. However there was extra bonhomie to come back.
In December 2002, Assad and his new spouse, British-born Asma Akhras, visited Britain and met the late Queen and the then Prince Charles, earlier than lunching with Mr Blair at 10 Downing Avenue.
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Queen Elizabeth II hosted Bashar and Asma al Assad at Buckingham Palace in December 2002. Pic: PA
Throughout a four-day go to during which he acquired the complete pink carpet therapy, the president was additionally handled to a banquet on the Mansion Home within the Metropolis of London by the Lord Mayor.
However the Blair-Assad bromance was to not final.
By 2006, Mr Blair was accusing Syria and Iran of supporting terrorism and warning they have to select whether or not to “come into the international community and play by the same rules as the rest of us” or to “be confronted”.
And in 2011, a decade after Mr Blair’s go to and a 12 months after David Cameron grew to become prime minister, the cordial relationship between the UK and Syria got here to an abrupt finish.
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The Prince of Wales greeted Assad at St James’s Palace in 2002. Pic: PA
The Assad regime massacred younger Arab Spring protesters and launched a crackdown that triggered the full-scale civil conflict that reached its climax final weekend.
In 2013, Mr Cameron proposed UK navy intervention in Syria, however in probably the most humiliating setbacks of his premiership, he misplaced a Commons vote by 285 to 272, with dozens of Tory MPs rebelling.
This week, Sir Keir informed MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions: “We all welcome the fall of Assad and I hope that this can be a much-needed turning point for Syria, but that is by no means guaranteed.”
Practically 25 years in the past, Blair hoped Bashar al Assad’s accession would even be a turning level for Syria. What adopted again then, nonetheless, confirms that Sir Keir is true to be cautious in regards to the future.
