W Did Not Know Who ‘Belgium’ Was

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This is according to excerpts from ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair‘s autobiography A Journey.

During the 2001 G-8 summit in the Italian city of Genoa to the surprise of Bush Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt spoke and the US president leaned over to Blair and asked “Who is this guy?”, media reports including the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported today.

The British PM revealed that prior to this question that, “He [Bush] didn’t know or recognize Guy, whose advice he listened to with considerable astonishment.” Following his question Blair told Bush, “He is the prime minister of Belgium.”  

How this revelation will go down in the Bush household tonight is another matter, but W did invite Verhofstadt to the White House twice during his presidency and they apparently bonded over discussions on mountain biking.