A Journey: My Political Life
By Tony Blair
You can view this book's Amazon detail page here.
I loved this book. Blair is a fabulous writer and certainly has a story to tell. You don’t have to like books about politics or world leadership to enjoy this. At times, Blair is quite serious, especially about the British engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Other times, though, he hilariously describes mistakes he made and problems Britain faced during his time as Prime Minister. His account of the colossal screw-ups during the Millennium celebration made me laugh until I cried. His description of visits with the queen are also fabulous.
Throughout the book, there is a constant drumbeat about problems with the media and with his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. The Brown problems make the reader question why Blair stuck with him for his three terms in office. From Blair’s point of view, it seemed to be about keeping one’s friends close and enemies closer. In this case, Brown seemed like more of an enemy than a friend. A tremendously strong politician who while part of the Blair team, didn’t really believe in Blair’s New Labour party and often fought against what Blair was trying to do in a passive aggressive way.
Blair states that firing Brown would not have had the same effect as doing so in business. He uses a sports analogy to point out that it would be like kicking the player off the team, but still having him in the locker room for each practice and all games because he was an MP and a strong political figure.
Blair’s tone is humble and very respectful of what those around him accomplished or helped him accomplish. There are times when I felt that he wanted to make sure the reader knew what role he played on the world’s stage lest we might have given someone else credit, but rarely did this seem egotistical.
Blair is very complimentary of America and it’s leadership while he was in power. He was close to Bill Clinton and clearly had great respect for him. He claims great respect for George Bush as well, although admits that they had very little in common politically. Throughout the book, he details his frequent engagements with American presidents and addresses his critic’s point of view that he would do whatever the American president asked. He claims that this is wholly untrue, but also admits that as a country in the world in the late 20th and early 21st century, you either have a policy of aligning with America or not. If you do, as England does, than you support your ally until you have a strong reason to stop.
I found Blair’s discussion of New Labour refreshing – admitting that I new little of what he was up to in a macro sense while he was Prime Minister. The idea of working not for monetary or income equality, but for opportunity equality instead, works well for the way I think. In many ways his “liberal” policies sound more right than left to me. I’m going to do more reading . . .
Fantastic book. Very highly recommended.
- Started reading:
- 25th September 2010
- Finished reading:
- 6th October 2010