A Journey: My Political Life

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Overview

"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" 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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Critics who dubbed Britain's ex-prime minister "Tony Blur" for his allegedly substance-free politics swaddled in gauzy PR won't have their minds changed by this nebulous memoir. Blair's brief for his "ground-breaking" New Labour platform reads like a marketing plan: it's all about middle-class "aspiration," "focusing on the developing tastes of consumers," and "modernization," the glossed-over particulars being a muddle of small-bore education, health-care and law-and-order initiatives. The Iraq War is a similar "battle between modernizers and reactionaries," according to Blair's high-minded justification, a battle which would have gone well but for the meddling of Al Qaeda and Iran. He writes like an ad executive--"it had to be dignified, it had to be different, and it had to be Diana," he says of the laudably "modern" princess's funeral--but his candor can be bracing. He paints comic scenes of excruciating audiences with dull dignitaries and the weekly torment of Prime Minister's Questions, is nakedly spiteful toward his Labour rival and successor Gordon Brown, and never hides his preoccupation with image-crafting and media relations. ("Look like a prime minister," he reminds himself on election night.) Blair reveals himself to be savvy, charming, and sometimes earnest and impassioned, but never quite a statesman. (Sept. 2)

Library Journal

Blair's memoirs focus, as expected, on his ten years as UK prime minister. What's unexpected, however, is the candor and genuine humor present throughout. In an accessible, conversational style, Blair describes his rise to PM in the New Labour landslide victory in 1997 and the extraordinary challenges that his government faced. He gives credit where it is due, is forthright about mistakes, and shares opinions about world leaders, royalty, and celebrities with whom he has worked. Without delving too deeply into his personal life, he gives the reader a good sense of his role not just as a public figure but also as a son, husband, and father. Major events receive thoughtful but never maudlin treatment, and his descriptions of more prosaic concerns (for example, nervousness during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions sessions) underscore his down-to-earth side. Blair is donating all profits from the book's sales to the Royal British Legion, which serves UK ex-service personnel.Verdict Particulars of British party politics might elude some American readers, but the narrative keeps flowing. Essential for readers of current British politics. [See Prepub Exploded, 3/4/10.]—Megan Hahn Fraser, UCLA Lib.

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Long-awaited, uncommonly candid memoir by the former British prime minister.

Politics isn't needed to liberate people, Blair writes; it's the other way around. "An odd thing for a politician to say," he admits, "but then...it has never been entirely clear whether the journey I have taken is one of the triumph of the person over the politics, or of the politics over the person." Regardless, Blair is a political animal to the core. There are few personal details here, in the manner of Bill Clinton'sMy Life (2004), Clinton being one of Blair's heroes. There are, however, plenty of personal opinions about the people with whom he has served, from his successor Gordon Brown (who might still have his job "had he pursued New Labour policy") to George W. Bush, who, the author insists, is anything but stupid—though his political intuition "wasn't expressed analytically or intellectually." Blair is famously both analytical and intellectual, and he provides a careful rationale for having bought the weapons of mass destruction canard and committed British troops to Iraq—it boils down mostly to the argument that Saddam was a bad guy and needed to go, or "the region needed a fundamental reordering." The region got that reordering, of course, which was one of the causes of Blair's being invited to leave office by the ungrateful electorate of Britain, for which the author seems to have a touch of impatience, if not thinly veiled contempt: "We were like two people standing either side of a thick pane of glass trying to have a conversation." Blair concludes with an argument for further reordering, including the West becoming closer to China and the European Union's "adopting a common energy policy," among other things.

A vividly rendered account of life in office, with plenty of beneficial pointers to aspiring politicos on either side of the Atlantic.

Leonard Downie Jr.

…[a] well-written and perhaps unintentionally self-revealing memoir…
—The Washington Post

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780307269836
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 9/2/2010
Pages: 720
Product dimensions: 6.40 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 1.60 (d)

Meet 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.

Read an Excerpt

TWELVE

9/11: “SHOULDER TO SHOULDER”

It is amazing how quickly shock is absorbed and the natural rhythm of the human spirit reasserts itself. A cataclysm occurs. The senses reel. In that moment of supreme definition, we can capture in our imagination an event’s full significance. Over time, it is not that the memory of it fades, exactly; but its illuminating light dims, loses its force, and our attention moves on. We remember, but not as we felt at that moment. The emotional impact is replaced by a sentiment which, because it is more calm, seems more rational. But paradoxically it can be less rational, because the calm is not the product of a changed analysis, but of the effluxion of time.

So it was with 11 September 2001. On that day, in the course of less than two hours, almost 3,000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack the world has ever known. Most died in the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center that dominated the skyline of New York. It was a workplace for as diverse a workforce as any in the world, from all nations, races and faiths, and was not only a symbol of American power but also the edifice that most eloquently represented the modern phenomenon of globalisation.

The explosion as the planes hit killed hundreds outright, but most died in the inferno that followed, and the carnage of the collapse of the buildings. As the flames and smoke engulfed them, many jumped in terror and panic, or just because they preferred that death to being on fire. Many who died were rescue workers whose heroism that day has rightly remained as an enduring testament to selfless sacrifice.

The Twin Towers were not the only target. American Airlines Flight 77, carrying sixty-four people from Washington to Los Angeles, was flown into the Pentagon. A total of 189 people died. United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark to San Francisco with forty-four on board, was hijacked, its target probably the White House. It came down in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Its passengers, realising the goal of the hijack, stormed the cabin. In perishing, they saved the lives of many others.

It was an event like no other. It was regarded as such. The British newspapers the next day were typical of those around the globe: “at war,” they proclaimed. The most common analogy was Pearl Harbor. The notion of a world, not just America, confronted by a deadly evil that had indeed declared war on us all was not then dismissed as the language of the periphery of public sentiment. It was the sentiment. Thousands killed by terror—what else should we call it?

Opinions were forthright and clear, and competed with each other in resolution, not only in the West but everywhere. In the Arab world, condemnation was nearly universal, only Saddam ensuring that Iraqi state television played a partisan song, “Down with America,” calling the attacks “the fruits of American crimes against humanity.” Yasser Arafat condemned the acts on behalf of the Palestinians, though unfortunately, most especially for the Palestinian cause, the TV showed pictures of some jubilant Palestinians celebrating.

The most common words that day were “war,” “evil,” “sympathy,” “solidarity,” “determination” and, of course, “change.” Above all, it was accepted that the world had changed. How could it be otherwise? The reason for such a description was also not hard to divine. The first attempt to attack the World Trade Center, in 1993, had been foiled, but the planning this time had obviously been meticulous. The enemy had been prepared to wait until it had accumulated the necessary means and opportunity.

However, more than that, a terror attack of this scale was not calculated to do limited damage. It was designed for maximum casualty. It was delivered by a suicide mission. It therefore had an intent, a purpose and a scope beyond anything we had encountered before. This was terror without limit; without mercy; without regard to human life, because it was motivated by a cause higher than any human cause. It was inspired by a belief in God; a perverted belief, a delusional and demonic belief, to be sure, but nonetheless so inspired.

It was, in a very real sense, a declaration of war. It was calculated to draw us into conflict. Up to then, the activities of this type of extremism had been growing. It was increasingly associated with disputes that seemed unconnected, though gradually the connection was being made. Kashmir, Chechnya, Algeria, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon; in each area, different causes were at play, with different origins, but the attacks, carried out as acts of terror, were growing, and the ideological link with an extreme element that professed belief in Islam was ever more frequently expressed. Until 11 September, the splashes of colour on different parts of the canvas did not appear to the eye as a single picture. After it, the clarity was plain, vivid and defining.

We look back now, almost a decade later when we are still at war, still struggling and managing the ghastly consequences which war imposes, and we can scarcely recall how we ever came to be in this position. But on that bright New York morning, not a cloud disturbing the bluest of blue skies, we knew exactly what was happening and why.

We knew that so far as we were concerned we had not provoked such an outrage. There had been acts of terror committed against us: Lockerbie, the USS Cole, the U.S. embassy in Tanzania. We had tried to retaliate, but at a relatively low level. They were individual tragedies, but they did not amount to a war. They were the price America paid for being America. The other conflicts we reckoned were none of our business; or at least they were the business of our diplomatic corps, but not of our people.

So those carrying out such acts were wicked; but they weren’t changing our world view. George Bush had won the presidency after the controversies of the most contested ballot in U.S. history, but the battle between him and Al Gore had focused mainly on domestic policy. At my first meeting with him—Camp David in February of the same year—his priorities were about education, welfare and cutting down on big government as he saw it.

So there was no build-up to 11 September, no escalation, no attempts to defuse that failed, no expectation or inevitability. There was just an attack—planned obviously during the previous presidency—of unbelievable ferocity and effect. No warning, no demands, no negotiation. Nothing except mass slaughter of the innocent.

We were at war.We could not ignore it. But how should we deal with it? And who was this enemy? A person? A group? A movement? A state?

I was in Brighton that day, to give the biennial address to the Trades Union Congress. Frankly, it was always a pretty ghastly affair for both of us. As I explain elsewhere, I was frustrated they wouldn’t modernise; they were frustrated with my telling them how to do their business. Not that they were ever slow in telling me how to do mine, mind you. And sure-fire election-losing advice it was too. They ignored my counsel; and I ignored theirs. For all that, we sort of rubbed along after a fashion, and in a manner of speaking, and up to a point.

The great thing about Brighton is that it is warm, closer than Blackpool to London, and retains the enormous charm of yesteryear. Blackpool can be a great town and has a unique quality, but it needs work done on it. Brighton was where Neil Kinnock, posing for photos on the pebble beach on the day he became Labour leader in 1983, lost his footing and fell in the sea. You can imagine the pleasure of the assembled press. It must have been replayed a thousand times and became a slightly defining misstep; unfairly so, of course; but such things are never fair. In public, you are always on show, so always be under control. The trick, actually, is to appear to be natural, while gripping your nature in a vice of care and caution. Don’t let the mask slip; don’t think this is the moment to begin a new adventure in communication; don’t betray excesses of emotion of any kind; do it all with the ease and character of someone talking to old friends while knowing they are, in fact, new acquaintances.

Over time, I began to think there was never a moment when I could be completely candid and exposed. You worried that even sitting in your living room or in the bath, someone would come to photograph, question and call upon you to justify yourself. I became unhealthily focused on how others saw me, until, again over time, I refocused on how I saw myself. I realised I was considered public property, but the ownership was mine. I learned not to let the opinion of others, even a prevailing one, define my view of myself and what I should or should not do.

The TUC took place in early to mid-September, and the party conference a couple of weeks later. Both always made September a little nerve-tingling. From the TUC you could get a sense of where the party were liable to be in terms of contentment and/or otherwise. Trouble at the first usually presaged trouble at the second. The 2001 TUC was no exception. Having just won our first ever consecutive full term, in a second landslide victory, you would have thought it an occasion for general rejoicing. “I think mostly they’ll want to congratulate you on the victory,” Alastair said to me, po-faced, as we boarded the train.

“Do you think so?” I said, perking up.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied.

Sure enough, the mood as I arrived at lunchtime was the usual mixture of sweet and sour, but with the sweet a decided minority. I went straight to the Grand Hotel. We had an hour and a half before I had to go to the new Conference Centre a hundred yards or so along the beachfront. I worked in the bedroom as the team gathered in the living room of the suite. Just after a quarter to two, around 8:45 Eastern Standard Time, Alastair was called out of the room by Godric Smith, his very capable deputy. Alastair came back in, turned on the television and said, “You’d better see this.” He knew I hated being interrupted just before a speech, so I realised I’d better look. The TV was showing pictures of the Trade Center like someone had punched a huge hole in it, fire and smoke belching forth. Just over fifteen minutes later, a second plane hit, this time graphically captured live on-screen. This was not an accident. It was an attack.

At that moment, I felt eerily calm despite being naturally horrified at the devastation, and aware this was not an ordinary event but a worldchanging one. At one level it was a shock, a seemingly senseless act of evil. At another level, it made sense of developments I had seen growing in the world these past years—isolated acts of terrorism, disputes marked by the same elements of extremism, and a growing strain of religious ideology that was always threatening to erupt, and now had. Within a very short space of time, it was clear the casualties would be measured in thousands. I ordered my thoughts. It was the worst terrorist attack in human history. It was not America alone who was the target, but all of us who shared the same values. We had to stand together. We had to understand the scale of the challenge and rise to meet it. We could not give up until it was done. Unchecked and unchallenged, this could threaten our way of life to its fundamentals. There was no other course; no other option; no alternative path. It was war. It had to be fought and won. But it was a war unlike any other. This was not a battle for territory, not a battle between states; it was a battle for and about the ideas and values that would shape the twenty-first century.

All this came to me in those forty minutes between the first attack and my standing up in front of the audience to tell them that I would not deliver my speech but instead return immediately to London. And it came with total clarity. Essentially, it stayed with that clarity and stays still, in the same way, as clear now as it was then.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 High Expectations 3

2 The Apprentice Leader 32

3 New Labour 66

4 Honeymoon 108

5 Princess Diana 133

6 Peace in Northern Ireland 153

7 "We Govern in Prose" 200

8 Kosovo 223

9 Forces of Conservatism 254

10 Managing Crises 287

11 A Mandate for New Labour 313

12 9/11: "Shoulder to Shoulder" 341

13 Iraq: Countdown to War 371

14 Resolution 413

15 Iraq: The Aftermath 438

16 Domestic Reform 476

17 2005: TB/GB 506

18 Triumph and Tragedy 538

19 Toughing It Out 566

20 Endgame 594

21 Departure 618

22 Postscript 655

Index 683

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DeafDeeDee

Posted September 6, 2010

Glad Tony Blair published this book!

My review if of a reviewer named "Anonymous"; who sounds like a stupid, cowardly, idiot and horses-rump. Are you also one of those half-wits who doesn't like George W. Bush, for whom Blair has great respect. Most intelligent people have great respect Tony Blair and, as far as Americans are concerned, the Approval Ratings for George W. Bush continue to go up, up, up and he isn't even sitting in the White House anymore ... and so will the Approval Ratings for Tony Blair go up, up, up!.

5 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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jayaashermusic

Posted September 10, 2010

Excellent!

Agree with him or not, it is a thought-provoking, insightful, and witty book by a man who definitely made his mark on the world stage.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted September 7, 2010

a series of worrying admissions from a once powerful man

(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
This review is from: A Journey: My Political Life (Hardcover)
It was 0830 on 1 September 2010 as I walked past a large London bookshop. The window display comprised 2 books - one of which was this much awaited Blair Memoirs. Mine was the first copy sold. Whilst political insiders will doubtless find much over which to raise their eyebrows, my own surprises were over his relationship with his immediate successor Gordon Brown. Don't you just hate it when people say "THEY KNEW" that such and such was going to happen but did nothing to prevent it from happening when they had the power to make a difference. In this work, Blair actually claims to have known Brown would be an awful Prime Minister. Well, we can all say that - after the event. More importantly, he also admits that he failed to sack Brown for fear of creating problems for the Labour Party and accelerating Brown's succession to Number Ten! I found this difficult to digest.

This is neither a pro nor anti-Blair review, it is based on his book and his revelations. A couple of years before standing down in the most diabolical fashion ever!, Blair stated he would reduce immigration to the United Kingdom to a certain figure by the September of that year. Eventually, however, nothing happened because he was unable to make any difference whatsoever. Now ask yourself this; If the Prime Minister is unable to change things, who can? Because of his disclosures in this book, for the very first time I have begun to see Blair as a weakling. Here is a man who admits to crying because a soldier was killed in Iraq. Well what did he expect? Here is a man who would not remove or even demote Gordon Brown for "FEAR" of the consequences. Not a strong man then! Here is a man who admits to having turned to drink because of the pressures of the job. Definitely not! Altogether, I began to feel so disappointed in this man, it came as something of a betrayal. Perhaps we were all fooled to some extent by the young, pretty boy, self assured image - although it is an image that has now also caught on in other parties!

The memoirs commences with the revelation (for those who did not know!) that, as he entered No 10 for the first time as Prime Minister, he had not previously held any government post whatsoever - not even a junior post. From there he went on to change the face of British politics, change the face of the Labour Party and introduce several American-style techniques by employing spin-doctors to provide the most positive gloss onto anything that might be perceived as unsavoury. It really is a candid and revealing exposé of the man in charge for all those years and for that he must be applauded.

Only now, however - some two years after stepping down, do we read this personal account of those years only to learn it appears he became a victim of his own spin. In so doing he leaves a lingering question over whether or not he was ever completely suited to the job. This book has changed my perception of so many aspects of British political life in general and Tony Blair in particular. No longer will I blame Gordon Brown for the financial mess in which the UK finds itself at this time. Why? Because it is abundantly clear from this book that Brown should never have been Chancellor and the only person able to remove him from that post had become frightened of replacing him.

My own political inclinations are simple; I subscribe to the view that one m

4 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted September 1, 2010

is b&n going delusional?

an ordinary ebook for 28 dollars?
are you serious?
do you mean it?

again: is b&n going delusional?

my very next move: buy an amazon's kindle.

there i'll buy this book, and many others, for an affordable and fair price.

A Journey, by Tony Blair

B&N price $28.00
Amazon price $18.90

what a difference a price makes!

3 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
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jbdunlap14

Posted September 1, 2010

more from this reviewer

The Price is Awful

Come on this E-Book price is awful. Why would anyone pay this. Way too much.

3 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted September 1, 2010

This eBook price is completely unacceptable (and $10 more than Amazon!)

How does that even happen? A $10 difference? It's cheaper to order the physical book. Please fix this. This is crazy.

3 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
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RobbieLincoln

Posted November 14, 2010

more from this reviewer

Funny and a master of contrasts and articulation

"Leadership without delegation is usually a mess. But when it is crisis time, forget delegation. That's the moment you're there for: grip it, shape it, decide it and solve it." (Tony Blair). The bio is not so much about his early life as it is his rise to politics and a reflection of his struggle to move the left-leaning and politically failing Labour Party to the center and his frenemy relationship with Gordon Brown, who eventually succeeded in displacing him. (To Americans not familiar with parliamentary procedures, the British system of selecting a frenemy to succeed you during your term in office is inconceivable and repugnant, but it's the way they do things over the Pond.)

His memoirs are full of humor, and anyone familiar with government will get a kick of his descriptions of public life ("So I would go from meeting to meeting, each event a risk, each encounter potentially explosive, each remark liable to be scrutinised, each facial expression a cause for serenity or alarm, each smile a grimace if too small, cheesy if too large"). His description of London's New Year's Eve event the night before the Millenium is LOL (to his wife: "Darling, there is only one thing I am going to thank God for tonight, and that is they only come round every thousand years").

But his memoirs have poignant moments as well. He treats the paradoxical Princess with respect, and the scene with Rudy Gulianni right after 9-11 is deeply moving.

Blair's resoluteness is laudable: his unwillingness to let the unions economically destroy his country ("As their consequence diminishes, so their dwindling adherents become ever more shrill and strident, more solicitous of protecting their own shrinking space rather than understanding that the voice of the times has moved on and they must listen before speaking"), and his belief that the innocent citizens in terrorist states must be offered something better than that which we are trying to take away from them.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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GailCooke

Posted November 13, 2010

more from this reviewer

A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF UNUSUAL INTEREST

Former British prime minister Tony Blair's memoir "A Journey: My Political Life" is a political biography of unusual interest. Clearly the most dominant figure in Britain's politics for the past 20 years Blair came to the fore as leader of the Labour Party in 1994, and served as prime minister from 1997 - 2007. These years saw him deal with the devastation of Princess Diana's death, peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, enormous public service reforms, and war - Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq. Here is a journal of those years in his own words.

Blair has donated all proceeds from this book to charity for wounded British military veterans. And, in his memoir he ruminates about whether or not his decisions to engage in war were wise. He delivers more than a convincing defense of his actions. Further, he expresses admiration and respect for recent American presidents, including Obama, and notes that in visiting our shores during the ten years he served as prime minister he came to love America.

It is rare that one is offered such a close look at history as seen through the eyes of an important participant. Deprecating at times his writing seems devoid of artifice, but simply a desire to tell it as it was. Speaking of telling it's an immense pleasure to listen to it read in Blair's own voice. Rich in anecdotal material A JOURNEY is interesting reading as well as being an important contribution not only for generations to come but also a study to help us better understand our world today.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Gerry_Ford

Posted October 8, 2010

Bait and switch on audiobook abridgement

Beware: The audiobook offered claims to be unabridged (and the cover photo even says "an unabridged production"), but what's being shipped in an abridgement.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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stevegil

Posted January 2, 2011

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Thank You Tony Blair

Extraordinary for it breadth, introspection, honesty, intellect and experience-based wisdom. Blair's progressivism is passionately focused on improving the lives and opportunity for what is now called "ordinary people". He believes this agenda is undermined by government intrusion into the economy, excessive regulation, ineffective (soft?)approaches to crime, poor education, excessive deficits, and other phenomena more often the result of ideologies and shibboleths woven in the DNA of liberal thinking from its labor roots in the first of the Century.

As a former Peace Corps Volunteer whose political philosophies began with the Ballad of Joe Hill, I found one of Blair's most intriguing conclusions about Progressivism's continual courtship with in-electability and irrelevance (a mirror of current US politics) is the difficulty academics and educated liberals have with the notion of "aspiration" -- that most on the bottom of society do not view themselves as the noblest class. They want to join the middle and upper class, an ambition liberal academic and media find somewhat distasteful(bourgeois).

Possibly 7 books in one there is something for everyone here.
(1) Major events and decisions of the Blair era;
(2) Performance reviews and "thank you's" to myriad public and private personnel with whom Blair worked;
(3) The World Leader's Club - how they work and interact on a personal level and Blair's personal experience of many,
(4) Living in Downing Street with Children and a working wife; (5)The Islamic Conundrum;
(6) An unaccountable greed and ratings-driven media's increasingly destructive and destabilizing force on democracies;
(7) Progressivism - values, principles, and practices it must understand and adopt to effectively enable the aspirations of middle and lower socio-economic people.

This book will cause discomfort to "liberal" ideological purists. Expect academics and media reviewers to shun this book. The facts as presented do not correspond to their current world view and, as we see continually, the establishment today does not differ markedly from those in Galileo's time. So whether it is George Bush, statism, income redistribution (a la Robert Reich), etc.--in that ecosphere the world is flat and the sun revolves around it.

Read this book if you want fascinating insights to the world of social change, globalization, Islamic fundamentalism, governance or just a "People Magazine" look at some of the amazing men and women with whom he interacted.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted September 12, 2010

Good book

Worth buying

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted September 5, 2010

do not buy an account of a war criminal

please please do not buy this abomination, the man is a opportunist war criminal, do not waste any dollars to add to his already huge pot of cash.

1 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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Dr_Wilson_Trivino

Posted August 13, 2011

Friend across the pond

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair states in his book, A Journey: My Political Life that his most common question asked is: "how are the American Presidents like?"

Blair jokingly answers, "they are very different from each other!" Paraphrasing his conclusions he states that Clinton is an extraordinary mixture of easygoing charm and ferocious intellectual capacity. Probably, in terms of political intuition and certainly in terms of turning such intuition into analysis, he is the most formidable politician he had met. Blair's theory is that the "blessing of his [Clinton] times is the disadvantage of his legacy".
As to George W. Bush, he was straightforward and direct. The stupidest misconception was that Bush was stupid. Bush has great intuition but it was less about politics and more about what he thought was right or wrong. This wasn't expressed analytically or intellectually. It was just stated.

As to Barack Obama, he is a visionary and a man of steel and he is trying to shape a different policy to meet these aims, avoiding market excesses in economics and the alienation of America from its allies, potential or actual, in meeting the security challenge.
Blair concludes that leaders comes in all shapes and sizes but the real test of leadership- amongst all the tests of policy, judgment, politics, and ability- is whether, in the final analysis, you put country first. Each of these presidents does and for a reason not connected simply to them.

That is the beauty of America and leads to the special bond between Great Britain and the United States.
A Journey: My Political Life centers on Blair's political journey as a back bencher to the highest office of Prime Minister. He takes the reader to the ups and lows of the job. Kosovo, Princess Diana's death, and his most haunting move to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the US after the events of 9-11 with the attempt to have end the issues in Ireland. His straight forward voice and perspective bring an interesting peek into the inner thoughts of this effective Prime Minister.
The tenure of Blair was one of a time where progressives were redefining the role of government and policy. His youth and charisma also led a transformation period where globalization and the threat of terrorism impacted the traditional super powers and the old world outlook of Great Britain.

Blair consolidated the dreaded questions time into one day on Wednesdays in the name of efficiency to get over this British legislative tradition and shares candid assessment of his fellow actors on the world stage.

As a former elected leaders, Blair currently focuses on learning about the growing influence of the Far East, bridging religious understanding and the shared responsibility of caring for the planet.
Blair concludes that "it is not that the power of politics is needed to liberate the people; but that the power of people is needed to liberate the politics."

A easy to read account of the Blair years and the inner workings of our neighbor across the pond.
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Ausonius

Posted July 12, 2011

more from this reviewer

I Also Recommend:

What was Britain's "Old Labour" Party like at its best?

On balance, I do not think much of Tony Blair's 2010 memoir, A JOURNEY: MY POLITICAL LIFE. It is, at 700 pages, at least 300 pages too long. It rambles. It is poorly edited. And, even when tailored to American readers, it assumes too much advance knowledge of the United Kingdom. Abounding in of photos of Tony, A JOURNEY offers American readers not a single map of his country or the places important to him. There is, for my taste, too much trivia about why Blair never drank as much as other Labour Party greats, what his favorite sleep medication is, why he spends so much time in the loo and on and on. *** Although it took me a long time to do justice to A JOURNEY during a first reading, I decided that the book might make more sense on a second. I was curious, for example, about why he felt that the UK deserved something better than "Old Labour." In the process, Tony Blair did give me a sense of what had once been right about Old Labour -- even when it consistently appealed to no more than a third of the British electorate. *** Consider a very long passage from Chapter Two, "The Apprentice Leader." The year was 1996 and Labour Party leader in Opposition John Smith had just died in harness of a heart attack. Blair decided to try, against the odds, to win Smith's party position. It was time for a change. The traditional Labour Party attracted only two sorts of people (1) trade unionists and (2) intellectual social democrats. There were simply not enough of both types to make Labour relevant to governance in the modern world. Ah, but once upon a time! "The leaders of the early and mid-twentieth century like Ernie Bevin, or Jack Jones later, were titans: working-class men who through union meetings, colleges and conferences, achieved the education society had denied them, and who were shining examples of self-improvement. In those days, meetings were well attended -- hundreds at a branch meeting was not exceptional. They were arenas of debate, often fiercely conducted, of discussion, of decision." *** Still, to Tony Blair, much was to be learned from Margaret Thatcher, Tory Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Thatcher was for free markets, deregulation and for a society of equality of opportunity not of Government-imposed weath redistribution. The bulk of Tony Blair's memoir is about how he grafted the best of Thatcherism onto the best of "Old" Labour, creating in the process "New' Labour. Blair and a few true believers then made New Labour into a force to be reckoned with in modern Europe and the world. Another ongoing part of the narrative is about why Blair's one time close friend and political soul mate, Gordon Brown, never embraced New Labour and in the end forced Blair to turn over party leadership to Brown, who then promptly returned to Old Labour. And lost the next election after Blair's three triumphs at the polls. *** There are in A JOURNEY numerous nuggets on insights into historical turning points, Northern Ireland, Princess Diana and other personalities. But it takes far too much effort, in my opinion, to dig them out from the dross that they are embedded in. Too much time for too few results. -OOO-
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8202483

Posted May 24, 2011

Good

Good

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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NST

Posted April 13, 2011

good

good

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Maggie_A

Posted January 21, 2011

Important History

As an American, I appreciate Mr. Blair's viewpoint and information on Europe and the Middle East. The chapters on Iraq are a must read for anyone wanting the facts in context with the time decisions were made. Thank you, Mr. Blair. I hope you will write a book on world religions.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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floxin

Posted December 30, 2010

Great personality

If you enjoy political history you will like this book. Tony has a great sense of humor.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted November 27, 2010

Don't waste your money

One of the most boring books I have read in years.

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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lawladi

Posted October 6, 2010

borrrrring

Too self aggrandizing for my taste. Tony needs to learn second person and third person English grammar.

0 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Glad Tony Blair published this book!

Excellent!

a series of worrying admissions from a once powerful man

is b&n going delusional?

The Price is Awful

This eBook price is completely unacceptable (and $10 more than Amazon!)

Funny and a master of contrasts and articulation

A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF UNUSUAL INTEREST

Bait and switch on audiobook abridgement

Thank You Tony Blair

Good book

do not buy an account of a war criminal

Friend across the pond

What was Britain's "Old Labour" Party like at its best?

Good

good

Important History

Great personality

Don't waste your money

borrrrring