Lothianlad

Tony B*liar has the bloody gall to describe The Queen as "haughty" following the death of Diana and all that happened at that time. What with the way B*liar and his ghastly openly anti Royalist wife and his truly obnoxious press secretary (or whatever he called himself) master of spin Alistair Campbell behaved towards her and her family what other kind of reaction would he have expected from the gracious lady at Buck House. He is about the most infamous opportunist ever to darken the door of No 10 Downing Street, now rolling in so much brass that he is going round the world buying mansions hand over fist. The right place for this odiously mendacious geezer is in the dock at the International Courts of Justice in Den Haag (The Hague).

Jerseygirl

I take it you won't be buying his book then?

Master_Bulldog

From my point of view I liked Toni Blair and his "New Labour". He was doing a superb job until he got himself involved in the whole Iraq/Afghanistan situation.

If nothing else he revolutionized social care.

So many important government white and green papers were released on child care under the last Labour government. They passed laws that improved residential child care a great deal whilst also making it a lot safer, although not water tight.

Sally Redux

I agree with that.

GeoffM

Apparently now the fastest selling autobiography in UK history. The mind boggles.

Derrygal

In case anyone is interested - Tony Blair will be interviewed by Christiane Amanpour this coming Sunday morning on "This Week" on ABC. I will probably watch it (out of curiosity).

niksha

Looks like i am definitely in the minority here in liking Mr. Blair. i guess -whatever tickles one's fancy!!!

nettlebed

I feel that be betrayed the Socialist ideal right from the very beginning. John Smith would have been a great leader, like Michael Foot. Two of the best Labour prime ministers the UK never had...

Tarkak9

Sure beats counting sheep.
GW's edition probably had the man in the yellow hat reading it.

(from CNN)... Blair writes that Bush was "very smart" -
while having "immense simplicity in how he saw the world." - that's because he didn't understand it.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush was a "true idealist" - (add delusion extrodinairre imo)
who displayed "genuine integrity and political courage,".... insertion of author's discretion for embellishment... and page stuffer.

I can't be bothered to see if Blair was being back-handed...

Jaxbar

But un-electible although of course Smith never got the opportunity to try.

nettlebed

Yep, almost certainly true that neither was electable, but I admired both for their values and apparent honesty. Also, Smith for his compassion and touch, and Foot for his intellect. It's always easy to romanticize people who never got the chance to let down one's expectations. Sigh.

chartreuse

The Fourecksians, in Pratchett's The Last Continent, grasped this early on. That's why they imprisoned their politicians as soon as they were elected.

Macca67

I'll read it after going through Mandelson's memoirs but it'll be interesting to see how much candour both present. At least Blair is doing the decent thing and donating the profits from his tome to charity - though probably not the squillions he got as an advance.

lansbury

Which only goes to show how people in power have very little understanding of the true issues facing the common man (or woman)

robin1234

Foot was a good man. Apparently he and Enoch Powell were good friends over many years, although at either end of the political spectrum. They were both men of principle unlike your average party leader.