British Paper: Bush And Blair's Overheard Conversation "Did Little To Help The Popular Conception...That [Blair] Is Mr. Bush's Poodle"...

Mrs Blair is one of the summit's winners. So too is Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. He managed to take his democratic record off the agenda, and reveled in making jibes at the expense of Tony Blair and George W Bush.

Among the losers were the international aid agencies, almost completely ignored in stark contrast to last year's summit in Gleneagles, and the official agenda itself.

The three main topics -- energy security, education and infectious diseases -- barely got a look in, almost totally eclipsed by the Middle East. Sadly, perhaps the biggest loser of all was the prime minister. He wanted to appear an international statesman but was unable to shake off the taint of domestic scandal as even Mr Putin goaded him over the cash for peerages scandal.

And it ended even more disastrously, with Mr Blair being ignored by George Bush as he begged to be sent to Lebanon. His subservient pleas over the final lunch, overheard by the media after someone forgot to turn off the microphone, did little to help the popular conception that the prime minister is Mr. Bush's poodle.

Well, that's about it from St. Petersburg. Russia's first ever G8 summit was well organised and beautifully located. But it is unlikely to be remembered for long, however, as little of lasting consequence really emerged.

That won't bother Mr Putin in the slightest; indeed the style of the summit mattered far more for him than substance.

As long as he was able to bask in the glory of international statesmanship and have the chance to project a little of Russia's regained power -- while keeping unpleasant trifles like his autocratic tendencies off the agenda -- Mr Putin was always going to be a happy man.

Read entire column here.