Historians line up to dine with Bush

George Bush's valedictory dinner at Downing Street last night was attended by a bevy of distinguished British historians, leading some to believe the president is looking to recruit a ghost writer for a book he is planning. Among those who joined him were Churchill's biographer Martin Gilbert, Niall Fergusson, David Cannadine, Andrew Roberts (pictured) and Simon Schama. The latter is unlikely to receive a request to help him with the book - expected to promote his freedom agenda and also explain why he took America to war in Iraq – given that he is on record as saying Bush is "an absolute fucking catastrophe".

However, Andrew Roberts, who has written several books about war leaders, among them Hitler, Churchill, Napoleon and Wellington, is a very different kettle of fish. Last year he lunched with Bush at the White House and also dined with the president, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and a number of other senior White House officials. He was given a pair of presidential cuff-links as a token of friendship, which he shamelessly wore at the dinner last night. "They get on famously," says a well-informed source. "If he asks anyone, it will be Roberts."

Hardly surprising given how well Bush comes off in Roberts's book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900, which updates Churchill's seminal work of the same name to the present day. The book defends Bush's invasion of Iraq and follows his line that history will eventually vindicate him. One critic of the book described Roberts thus: "[He] takes his place as the fawning court historian of the Bush administration. He claims this role not just by singing the Bush administration's achievements but by producing a version of the past that conforms to and confirms its prefabricated view of the world."

However, Roberts was circumspect about his and Bush's table talk at Downing Street. "We had a truly wonderful evening," he says, "but we didn't talk about his legacy." No one can doubt that Dubya needs some help in the writing department. On Sunday, while discussing his legacy, he said: "It takes a while for history to have its, you know, to be able to have enough time to look back to see why decisions were made and what their consequences were."