"Straw was intimidated and tongue-tied in the presence of administration officials," Meyer wrote in his memoirs 'DC Confidential' to be serialised in the Guardian daily, where he expressed "despair" about leaders entrusted with responsibility for preparations for the Iraq war. However some ministers, including chancellor Gordon Brown and current Defence Secretary John Reid won respect in Washington, Meyer said, adding such leaders "stood out like Masai warriors in a crowd of pygmies".
Singling out Prime Minister's Tony Blair's special envoy to the Middle East Lord Levy Meyer described him "as having pretensions to be a latter-day Kissinger", the daily said. Meyer alleged Labour's long spell in Opposition has left Blair with a "coterie of personal advisers" which "may explain the hesitancy and nervousness of some ministers on business in Washington". He claimed Labour's first Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, was "a man more to be admired than liked" but his successor Straw was "someone more to be liked than admired".
