Blair Unbound by Anthony Seldon

This is the second and concluding volume of the authors’ comprehensive biography of Tony Blair, the longest serving prime minister of the Labour Party, who led his party to three consecutive general-election victories. The first volume, published in 2004, examined his youth, early political career, and his first term in office. This volume begins with the events of September 11, 2001, and chronicles his ministry to its conclusion in 2007. As the title suggests, the authors view Blair during this period as a liberated politician, free from the earlier constraints imposed by the need to restructure and redefine his party. They offer a heavily researched account filled with fascinating details based on unpublished documents and insider accounts. For example, their recounting of Blair’s reactions to the 9/11 attacks has a you-are-there feel. There are wonderful analyses of Blair’s conflicts with Gordon Brown, his relationship with President Bush, and his efforts to forge policies on issues as diverse as the Iraq War, Northern Ireland, and European integration. This is an outstanding work that strives successfully to explain the man and his administration. –Jay Freeman

Tony Blair: Prime Minister by John Rentoul

John Rentoul’s biography of Tony Blair is a must read for those who want to understand him. The book is scholarly enough to use as a text in comparative politics. It also gives enough character development to understand who Blair is, how he was developed as a man and what Britain’s youngest Prime Minister in the 20th century is like. The text certainly gives a clear view of “The Third Way” philosophy of Blair’s tenure which eschews unfettered capitalism and old labor socialism. Rentoul also illuminates Blair’s Christian moral beliefs without ignoring the character of a young rock musician. It is the best biography yet of Britain’s most dynamic leader. — Matthew Escover

New Britain: My Vision Of A Young Country by Tony Blair

New Britain presents Tony Blair on all the major debates of British public life: from nationalized health care to crime prevention, from the welfare state to monetary policy, from religion to family values, from individualism to isolationism, from taxation to trade unions, from NATO to Northern Ireland, from community rebirth to economic growth. After seventeen years of Conservative Party rule under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, a change in Great Britain’s leadership appears imminent. In Blair’s Stakeholder Nation, government works in partnership with private and voluntary sectors to harness the pawer of the market to serve the public interest. In New Britain, we read in Blair’s own articulate words how to improve the standard of living of all Britain’s families; how to base a new social order on merit, commitment, and inclusion; how to decentralize British institutions of political power; and how to expand Britain’s leadership in foreign affairs.

Blair’s Britain, 1997-2007 by Anthony Seldon

Tony Blair has dominated British political life for more than a decade. Like Margaret Thatcher before him, he has changed the terms of political debate and provoked as much condemnation as admiration. At the end of his era in power, this book presents a wide-ranging overview of the achievements and failures of the Blair governments. Bringing together Britain’s most eminent academics and commentators on British politics and society, it examines the effect of the Prime Minister and his administration on the machinery of government, economic and social policy and foreign relations. Combining serious scholarship with clarity and accessibility, this book represents the authoritative verdict on the impact of the Blair years on British politics and society.

Tony Blair: The Making of a World Leader by Philip Stephens

As author Philip Stephens notes, many Americans who saw British prime minister Tony Blair all buddy-buddy with his close friend and philosophical soulmate Bill Clinton were surprised to see Blair in apparently an equally close relationship with George W. Bush just a few months later. Other Americans may simply have wondered who this man was who became Bush’s closest ally in the run-up to war in Iraq and his guest during an address to Congress.

Either way, this biography has many of the answers those Americans may be looking for. While it is not the definitive biography of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair — and it’s obviously too early to measure his impact on UK politics, since he’s still in office — this title is nevertheless a good introduction to this major player on the world stage.

Stephens, a writer for the Financial Times newspaper, has had a great deal of access to Blair over the years, including personal interviews specifically for this book. It’s not entirely surprising, therefore, that Stephens takes a generally positive tone with his subject. While he does not downplay Blair’s weaknesses, including a number of unattractive personality traits, neither is he heavily critical of the man. He also tends to be light in his coverage of others’ criticisms of Blair, except insofar as they have shaped the man himself or had a lasting impact on his political outlook or success in office.

No question that this book is more about personality than politics … but I hasten to add that I think Stephens has done a fine job in showing how Blair’s political words and deeds proceed consistently and logically from his personality and his underlying beliefs. Unlike Clinton, Blair does seem to have a solid set of core principles that transcend mere political expedience. Stephens argues that this in part explains Blair’s ability to get along with President Bush on matters of global policy. At the same time, Blair is also a consummate and accomplished politician, who recognizes (again, as Stephens argues) that the British prime minister ultimately has little alternative *except* to do all he can to keep the UK’s relationship with the US on solid footing, regardless of who is in the White House.

In short, this title may seem a bit too glossy and superficial to Americans who already have some degree of familiarity with British politics and Tony Blair himself. However, for those who don’t, or who seek a quick refresher course, Stephens’ book has a lot to argue for it. I consider myself relatively conversant with the UK’s politics and government, but still learned a lot from reading this. I think other readers may find themselves reaching the same conclusion. — Andrew S. Rogers

Product Description

Tony Blair is a politician who defines our times. His emergence as Labour Party leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift in British politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed his party and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime minister in 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour’s history, and bringing to an end eighteen years of Conservative government. He took Labour to a historic three terms in office as Britain’s dominant political figure of the last two decades.

A Journey is Tony Blair’s firsthand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisions that were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues including Gordon Brown, the grueling negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services in Britain since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage—Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush. He analyzes the belief in ethical intervention that led to his decisions to go to war in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and, most controversially of all, in Iraq.

A Journey is a book about the nature and uses of political power. In frank, unflinching, often wry detail, Tony Blair charts the ups and downs of his career to provide insight into the man as well as the politician and statesman. He explores the challenges of leadership, and the ramifications of standing up, clearly and forcefully, for what one believes in. He also looks ahead, to emerging power relationships and economies, addressing the vital issues and complexities of our global world.

Few British prime ministers have shaped the nation’s course as profoundly as Tony Blair, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Here, uniquely, we have his own journey, in his own words.

About the Author

Tony Blair became an MP in 1983, leader of the Labour Party in 1994, and was prime minister of the United Kingdom from May 1997 to June 2007. Since leaving office, he has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East, representing the U.S., the UN, Russia, and the EU in working with the Palestinians to prepare for statehood as part of the international community’s effort to secure peace. In May 2008 he launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which promotes respect and understanding among the major religions. His Africa Governance Initiative works with leaders and their governments on policy delivery and attracting sustainable investment in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. He also works with world leaders to build consensus on an international climate-policy framework.

Tony Blair’s book offers insights on alliances

USA Today, September 4, 2010

LONDON — The alliance between George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair was extraordinarily tight, but Blair says that closeness may never have occurred without 9/11. “If Sept. 11 hadn’t happened, and we hadn’t had these major security questions that we then had to deal with together, it might have been different,” Blair said in a Wednesday interview about his memoir, A Journey: My Political Life. In the book, Blair describes Bush as having more integrity than nearly every other leader he has met. And despite their political differences, he grew to like Bush because “I found him straightforward and clear,” Blair said by phone from Washington, where he is taking part in Middle East peace talks. [Read the full article...]

Tony Blair pelted with eggs and shoes at book signing

guardian.co.uk, September 4, 2010

DUBLIN - Skirmishes broke out between protesters and police at the first public signing for Tony Blair’s memoirs, with shoes and eggs hurled at the former prime minister. Four men were arrested and charged with public order offences for their part in the protest this morning outside Eason’s bookshop on O’Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland, which involved anti-war demonstrators and the Continuity IRA-aligned Republican Sinn Féin, who oppose the Northern Ireland peace process. A Garda spokesmen said the four men – two in their late teens and two in their mid-30s – were released from custody and will appear before Dublin district court on various dates later this month. [Read the full article...]

Tony Blair’s A Journey: Andrew Rawnsley’s verdict

guardian.co.uk, September 5, 2010

It is Tony Blair’s boast that he wrote every word in longhand “on hundreds of notepads”. That I believe. He was the most brilliant communicator of his era as a platform speaker or television interviewee, but he can be a ghastly writer. Anyone thinking about taking this journey needs to be given a travel advisory: much of the prose is execrable. No cliche is avoided. Loins are girded, leashes are strained at, die are cast, lights appear at the end of tunnels and wounds are rubbed with salt. The Vatican is “an amazing place”. Princess Anne “is a chip right off the old man’s block”. Princess Diana “captured the essence of an era”. Derry Irvine is “like the proverbial dog with the bone”. Many of the chapters are as badly planned as the invasion of Iraq. There are abrupt jumps from this year to that and back again. He will launch into one subject and then suddenly lurch off in an entirely different direction. [Read the full article...]

Tony Blair’s A Journey breaks sales records

guardian.co.uk, September 8, 2010

Despite predictions that Peter Mandelson beating him into print would damage sales of Tony Blair’s autobiography, the former prime minister’s book has trounced his erstwhile spin doctor’s to become one of the fastest-selling memoirs ever – presumably pretty solid consolation for having had his publication party at Tate Modern cancelled. Blair’s A Journey sold 92,060 copies in its first four days on sale last week, according to Nielsen BookScan – the best ever opening week sale for an autobiography since the book sales monitor’s records began, in 1998, and well ahead of Mandelson’s The Third Man’s performance, which sold 14,960 copies in three days when it was published in July. [Read the full article...]

Tony Blair book launch party cancelled

guardian.co.uk, September 8, 2010

Tony Blair today cancelled a second event scheduled to mark the launch of his memoirs after anti-war campaigners prepared to mount a protest against him. Guests invited to a party at the Tate Modern art gallery in central London to celebrate the publication of the former prime minister’s autobiography, A Journey, have been told that it has been postponed, a spokeswoman for Blair’s publishers, Random House, said. Campaigners against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had planned to demonstrate outside Tate Modern, and criticised the gallery for allowing the party to be held there. [Read the full article...]