text: As he prepared to leave London to set up an American Shakespeare Company in Los Angeles , Britain 's most famous theater director , Sir Peter Hall , wrote in the Mail on Sunday that Prime Minister Tony Blair , promoter of Cool Britannia , has in fact betrayed the arts by refusing them subsidies .
  
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  While leaving London in order to found a Los Angeles-based Shakespear Company , Sir Peter Hall , the most well-known theater director in Britain , claimed in his Sunday letter to the Mail that Prime Minister Tony Blair 's refusal to provide subsidies had been a betrayal of the arts despite the Prime Minister 's promotion of Cool Britannia .