Younger Blair Bails on Hill Internship

Like father like son, young Euan Blair, the British prime minister's eldest boy, seems more comfortable with Republicans than Democrats these days. The 22-year-old Blair completed his internship on Capitol Hill for GOP Rep. David Dreier but bailed out early on California Democratic Rep. Jane Harman. Democrats are calling the lad a dilettante.

From my Roll Call column, Heard on the Hill:

If you haven't seen Euan Blair around campus lately it's because his internship with Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) came to a mysteriously abrupt halt.

Blair, the eldest son of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was supposed to fulfill a two-and-a-half month stint in Harman's office after interning for the same amount of time on the House Rules Committee for Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.).

But after serving in Harman's office for only about two weeks, Blair left. Sources contend that it's because the 22-year-old lad was a wee bit on the spoiled side. One source says Blair, who already had been accepted to graduate school at an Ivy League university this fall, seemed "bored" and uninterested in doing the work of other interns. A source who knew of Blair's short tenure in Harman's office said, "He was a dilettante."

Harman's office declined to comment on whether Blair quit or was asked to leave.

"We do not comment on personnel issues," spokesman Tom Reynolds told HOH.

Blair has been spotted on several occasions getting lagered up with other lads and lasses after work. But that, of course, is normal for Capitol Hill interns.

Oddly enough, it was Republicans who worked with Blair on the Rules Committee who defended the Labor prime minister's son.

They found assertions that Blair was a spoiled brat to be a bunch of bollocks. And they found it ironic that Blair appears to have ended up having a better experience with the Republicans than the Labor Party's natural brethren, the Democrats.

Jo Maney, a spokeswoman for Dreier, wouldn't directly respond to charges that Blair was spoiled or a dilettante. She said she could speak only about his experience on the Rules Committee, where he finished the full term of his internship.

"He was a good intern," Maney told HOH. "He did everything asked of him. We enjoyed having him and I think he enjoyed his experience with us."

A Congressional source said Blair is back home in Britain for the summer. But he'll be coming back across the pond this fall to attend graduate school at Yale University .

The British Embassy, which arranged Blair's internship on Capitol Hill, is keeping mum, just as the Queen prefers.

"Euan Blair's internship is a private matter for Euan Blair and his employers," said Steve Atkins, an embassy spokesman.