DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Iraq War

When an author uses ""confidential"" and ""controversial"" in his title, it's implied that he's spilling the beans; add D.C. to the recipe, and one can't be blamed for expecting some spicy beans indeed. Unfortunately, the tales told by Meyer covering his stint as Britain's man in Washington from 1997 to 2003 are diplomatic to a fault. In this pivotal period in global politics, the insider gives star-struck treatment to political VIPs with whom he and his wife Catherine hobnobbed, dined, or attended the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court arguments (""Passes for the hearing were as valuable as gold dust.""). Analyses of genuinely controversial episodes such as the 2005 leaking of the Downing Street memo (which occurred after Meyer left his post), considered a smoking gun by those who believe the US and Britain built a case for war on deliberately falsified intelligence, are strictly party-line; claiming ""not to know what was meant"" by the details of the memo, he pronounces Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush ""innocent"" of conspiring to ""mislead their publics."" To his credit, Meyer admits in the acknowledgements that he didn't aspire ""to convey some great message,"" but that's hardly in line with what's printed on the title page.