Medal of dishonour

Crowd pleaser ... Members of Congress rise to applaud Tony Blair in July 2003. But these scenes did the PM no favours back home. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Why is Tony Blair still so reluctant to pick up his Congressional gold medal? As the prime minister heads to Washington DC later today for a bilateral with George Bush - Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan again on the agenda - Downing Street told the BBC that there was "no time" in Mr Blair's schedule to pick up the medal.

According to other reports Downing Street has still not agreed what motto to put on the back of the coin - Mr Blair's face is on the other - even though they've had since July 2003 to think about it.