The Third Way Wonkfest

By Jay Branegan/Washington

After Bill Clinton and Tony Blair finish with the elegant dinners and toasts at the G-8 summit this week in England, the real fun begins: the two leaders will lock themselves in a room with a clutch of top officials to talk about government policy for four or five hours. The Sunday meeting at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country mansion north of London, will be the third such bilateral seminar, following one at the White House, when Blair visited in February, and the inaugural 12-hr. "wonkathon" at Chequers in November, when Hillary Clinton sat in for her husband.

The lofty chatfests symbolize the intimate political relationship between Clinton, a "new Democrat," and Blair, creator of new Labour. Each claims to embody a type of politics that is not just a poll-driven centrism but a "third way," a favorite Blair slogan and a phrase that Clinton highlighted in this year's State of the Union message. "Both governments have to react to challenges like globalization and better education for workers, and we have similar perspectives on what's needed," says White House aide Sidney Blumenthal, who organizes the meetings with his British counterpart, David Miliband, Blair's policy chief.

On the agenda for Chequers are social security, welfare, crime, health policy and education, with eight to 10 participants from each side. Among them are Mrs. Clinton and Sandy Berger, the White House National Security Adviser, along with David Blunkett, Blair's Secretary of State for Education and Employment, and Peter Mandelson, his strategist and closest political adviser. "It's a chance to examine the basic principles we have in common, to sharpen our thinking and to talk about common pitfalls," says a participant.

The two camps have been interacting less formally for years. Al From, co-founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, where Clinton nurtured his new-Democrat ideas, took some reformist cues from Neil Kinnock, one of Blair's predecessors as Labour Party chief. Key Blair aides watched Clinton campaigning close up in 1992, and after the election Blair, then a little-known backbencher, visited the Clinton team to see how it was done.

This Sunday the group will focus on the problems each government faces in building support for internationalism--Clinton with his troubles in getting Congress to approve imf funding and U.N. dues, Blair with Britain's Euroskepticism. The discussion among the players has been free ranging and sometimes intense. Although all present are encouraged to speak up, there is one rule: Clinton and Blair get to talk whenever they want.

--By Jay Branegan/Washington