I am waiting fo
r my copy of Tony Blair’s memoirs, A Journey to arrive.
Of course, he was not going to apologise over Iraq. But I wonder what Blair says about his former Northern Ireland Secretay Mo Mowlam who was unceremoniously dumped in favour of Peter Mandelson. And why didn’t he sack Gordon Brown for his failure to tackle the budget deficit? Surely Blair is as much to blame for the economic crisis this country now faces, with thousands of public sector job losses on the horiizon. After the 2005 election, I believe he should have remained as leader until the 2010 election and taken responsibility for the mandate which Labour was elected on, rather than bail out.
I think the will be a fascinating read – he describes himself as having “the soul of a rebel” – and, after all, he did enthusiastically support all women shortlists which led to 101 Labour women being elected as MPs in 1997, compared to 13 for Conservative and 3 for Lib Dem.
I also think it is right, and generous, that Blair gives his proceeds from the book to the British Legion, including all his £4.6 million advance.
Will be interesting Ellee – wasn’t too keen on the clips I saw on the news this morning and apparently the book is over 700 pages long which is daunting enough! Keep us posted….
A better title: “Tony Blair – Should have stayed at Home” ?
I haven’t had a chance to follow this up today, but this is what a friend emailed me:
Pretty enjoyable eg on John Prescott “He was also completely paranoid about smart, young, well-spoken intellectual types. With these, he was like a pig with a truffle. He could smell out condescension, a slight, an air of superiority or a snub at a thousand paces.”
On Kelly’s death “Probably my own integrity never recovered from it … Before it, we were in error; after, we were “liars”.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/sep/01/tonyblair-past
I just had BBC World Service ring and ask if they could interview me about the book. Unfortunately, I have to go out, and I haven’t had time to read up on enough extracts.
MAking Tony Blair Middle East Envoy is like putting a mosquito in charge of a blood bank…..
Yes, I really want to read this.
Disappointingly, my copy has not yet arrived, but I read today that Amanda Platell describes Blair as a chauvinistic pig, and that his senior female colleagues barely get a mention. She says in answer to my question about Mo Mowlam, that Mo’s considerable contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process is skilled over, as is Margaret Beckett’s role as the first female Foreign Secretary.
Amanda concludes: “We knew Blaire sexed up his dossier on WMD, but who’d have thought he was such a sexist too?”