Tony Blair and George Bush give a joint press conference. Photograph: Scott Applewhite, AP.
Yo, as they say around here. I'm blogging from the briefing room at the White House.
It's not as glamorous as it looks on telly: the British press has just disgraced itself in the eyes of the President's staff, by refusing to stand up like American hacks do when Bush entered the room - because, of course, we don't stand for Blair - and sniggering when a US broadcaster described the press conference as a 'press availability', writes Gaby Hinsliff.
The Prime Minister's meeting with George Bush was originally scheduled as a quick routine call en route to see that other leader of the free world, Rupert Murdoch. But it's suddenly got much more interesting.
We observers of the Blair-Bush relationship have been spoilt lately. First came that revealing 'private conversation' at the G8 summit, accidentally broadcast to the masses - Blair wheedling to be allowed to go out to Syria for peace talks, Bush thanking him for the Burberry sweater 'you picked out yourself'.
Now comes something new: the Cabinet apparently asserting itself on foreign policy and uttering misgivings over the Blair Bush special relationship.
There has been widespread unease in government about Blair's refusal to call for a ceasefire in Lebanon - even if it would, as he argues, be pointless in practice - and about Britain once again siding with the US against the rest of the world.
David Miliband, the young Cabinet Minister, and Lord Grocott - the Lords whip who used to be Blair's ministerial aide - were both apparently pushing for a harder line at Cabinet.
Hilary Benn apparently thinks Israel's actions were disproportionate and Margaret Beckett came over all feisty with the Americans about landing explosives at British airports without permission. Ministers are privately dismayed that all the old questions about Blair's closeness to Bush are back.
Suddenly we got a briefing on the plane over here about the new 'urgency' with which Blair is tackling the crisis, accelerating peace talks, and so on. At the joint press conference, Blair and Bush talked about a UN resolution which could lead to a ceasefire.
Clearly the PM does not want it thought that he is just standing around watching civilians die.
The peace plan we're now hearing about is certainly progress, but you can't escape the nagging feeling that this is not the result of a diplomatic coup: it's what was always going to happen once Israel had been allowed time to shell Lebanon. Certainly some of Blair's own ministers seem to feel he could have pushed harder and sooner for it.
Blair's relationship with Bush is, of course, more complicated than the poodle and master parody suggests.
The reason Blair often bites his tongue when Labour wishes he'd criticise the US is that Bush would simply cut him out of the loop if he did so; he thinks the only way of influencing the administration is public loyalty and private advice, allowing the Americans to back down without losing face.
With Bush, as one of Blair's most senior foreign policy advisers once told me, you have to earn your place at the table first. But there's now a third party in this strange marriage: the Cabinet back home.
Robin Cook might have resigned and Clare Short wobbled around a lot, but the main players in Cabinet did not give Blair much trouble over Iraq. Three years on and with his authority severely weakened, they seem a bit bolder over Lebanon: it isn't just Bush he now needs to placate.
If you see David Miliband sporting a brand new jumper any time soon, you'll know why.
