Blair felciteert Sarkozy via 'Youtubes' (en)

Lending a modern twist to the traditional "well done" message, UK leader Tony Blair has sent his congratulations to French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy via the website YouTube in both French and English, albeit with a more apologetic delivery in the Gallic tongue.

Mr Blair had a two and a half minute-long message in English for Mr Sarkozy, who won the election with 53 percent of the vote on Sunday, while his message in French was a minute longer.

"I've decided to address you in French, which may be a very bad idea. Now you'll have to bear with me if I abuse your language," he said at the beginning of the French message, before going on that he admired Mr Sarkozy and considered him a friend.

In English, he spoke of the importance of the relations between the two countries, noting that even though there are differences the relationship is an "absolutely crucial one."

Mr Blair also said the two countries faced the same challenges - globalisation, the rise of India and China and how to reform the social welfare system to adapt to a modern way of living.

The English version has been viewed almost 29,000 times while the French version has over 30,000 hits.

Readers of the influential blog, Coulisses de Bruxelles, run by a journalist for the left-leaning Liberation newspaper, were quite impressed by Mr Blair's effort.

Pointing out that the message spoke of defence and the alliance between convinced Atlanticists, one reader said it was "nevertheless nice to have delivered the message in French."

Another wondered whether "Nicolas [Sarkozy] could reply to him in English," while yet another said they were "impressed by the support."

The phone method

But Mr Blair has not entirely abandoned the more conventional ways of offering congratulations.

On Sunday, he telephoned Mr Sarkozy to offer his support, resulting in him being among the first to hear who is likely to be the next prime minister of France.

According to the Financial Times, Mr Sarkozy asked Mr Blair if he wanted to "say a few words" to the next person to take on the job and passed his mobile phone to François Fillon, a former education minister, who oversaw his victorious campaign.