“... Party’. Madeleine Albright called her ‘a central figure in the history of this century’ and Bill Clinton lauded her as ‘a great American’ who had been ‘a source of judgment’ to him. The Economist imagined a dinner party of her ‘fancier lovers’ and concluded that together they could have ‘bought much of the world’. British newspapers ...”

“... next month: The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders, with Profiles of Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton (Michigan, £21.50). Quite what those two have in common, beyond being the bêtes noires of the American Right, beats me, but there it is. Anyway, the publishers have sent out Jerrold’s own chapter on Saddam as a taster, from which we learn ...”

“... best friends in the Middle East, were furious at what they saw as the gesture politics of Bill Clinton and his adjutant Tony Blair. Most Saudis despise Saddam Hussein, but this does not automatically translate – as many in Washington seem to believe – into an uncritical pro-Americanism. On the contrary, Saudi Arabia, characterised by ...”

“... trillion budget surplus. Many believed that if the country merely continued on the path set by Bill Clinton, the national debt, then $5.7 trillion, would be eliminated by the end of the decade. Bush chose a different way. He cut taxes, reducing revenues by $1.8 trillion. He declared a general war on terror and waged two specific wars. Financed ...”

“... would be judged by ‘the markets’, by which was meant the international financial markets. When Bill Clinton was told in 1993 that, if he pursued his full package of spending commitments, the Federal Reserve would simply raise interest rates to protect the value of government bonds even at the risk of recession, his response was: ‘You mean to tell me ...”

“... back. Among the culprits are Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and the triumvirate of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Tony Blair (an honorary American in this context). Wilson promoted the idea of the United States as the country whose mission was to make the world safe for democracy. Truman launched the national security state with ...”

“... of international law.’ The Cotton letter undermined another Republican’s attempt to pass a bill requiring the Senate’s consent to any nuclear deal with Iran. Headlines called the signatories ‘traitors’, and 300,000 people signed a petition to have them prosecuted under the Logan Act, a 1799 law that bars unauthorised citizens from negotiating ...”

“... a daughter. So he’s a curious – you could almost say implausible – mix of John McCain and Bill Clinton, though a few decades younger than either of them. According to the conventions of stories about fictional presidents, the novel strives to maintain the appearance of bipartisanship; Duncan never tells us which party he belongs to, but it’s ...”

“... Congress and exited the scene with his pregnant wife – Huma Abedin, a glamorous aide to Hillary Clinton – bound for therapy, ante-natal classes and lucrative consultancies in the private sector. Twenty-three months passed before we got the sequel: splashed across the cover of the New York Times Magazine, the happy couple are back for more; inside, for ...”

“... a tendency to promise things easily and compromise often. He broke a campaign vow to filibuster a bill that immunised telecom outfits against prosecution for the assistance they gave to domestic spying. He kept his promise from October 2007 until July 2008, then voted for the compromise that spared the telecoms. As president, he has continued to support their ...”

“... Castle, the Prime Minister in the novel, ‘is’ Tony Blair, and President Riley ‘is’ Bill Clinton (the novel’s set in 1999). In Lawson’s imaginings, the President’s priapism extends far beyond Monicagate: Riley has been accused of sexually assaulting the wife of the President of Nigeria. The royal family get to be ...”

“... to find a new direction, in contrast with Obama and, the record suggests, with the road Hillary Clinton would likely have pursued?Ten years ago, when Iran was the focus of the big powers’ nuclear concerns, I suggested that a deal might be possible whereby ‘Iran would be allowed limited enrichment rights (say, up to 5 per cent enrichment), together with ...”

“... Times, the Mail on Sunday hailed it as a blast of the trumpet against the yobbo Left; President Clinton bought a copy when he visited Oxford in June, John Patten praised it, the Home Secretary says Selbourne has proved conclusively that Tony Blair cannot turn the Labour Party into a ‘civic’ party, and so, more or less endlessly, on. What has got into ...”

“... About sixty of us, a handful of journalists, but mostly Sherman Hill residents, have come to see Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator, New York Knicks professional basketball star and Rhodes scholar who wants the Democrats’ nomination for President of the United States. Jack Hatch, once an Iowa state representative, now some kind of consultant, is ...”

“... to have been lying; and not only because his coy euphemisms give him rather more wriggle-room than Bill Clinton allowed himself with his bald statement that he did not have sexual relations with that woman. Some relief from the saga of the Berlusconi divorce was briefly on offer thanks to the Italian-born first lady of France, and the nude portrait of her ...”