The Blairs and Their Court

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Overview

Tony Blair is the most accomplished politician of his generation. But what is he really like? What does he believe? And what of his wife, Cherie, often considered both more intelligent and more leftwing than her husband? How does she fit into the close circle of confidants and advisers who have, the authors show, determined most of government policy over the past seven years? This book examines the people and experiences that shaped the Blairs, at school and university, as practising barristers and members of ...
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Overview

Tony Blair is the most accomplished politician of his generation. But what is he really like? What does he believe? And what of his wife, Cherie, often considered both more intelligent and more leftwing than her husband? How does she fit into the close circle of confidants and advisers who have, the authors show, determined most of government policy over the past seven years? This book examines the people and experiences that shaped the Blairs, at school and university, as practising barristers and members of Hackney's bitterly divided Labour Party, and as aspiring parliamentary candidates at a time when the party's fortunes were at their lowest ebb. It explains how Tony Blair grabbed the nomination for the safe Labour seat of Sedgefield thanks to an old-fashioned trade union 'fix', and how he subsequently rose, apparently effortlessly, through the ranks of the parliamentary party to the point at which he could execute a swift leadership coup following John Smith's death.

It describes how he transformed his party into New Labour, becoming its indispensable leader even as he adopted Conservative policies that were anathema to many of its members. It investigates the real stories behind such disasters as the Millennium Dome and the foot and mouth crisis, and Blair's complex relationship with the royal family. And it explains how he contrived for so long to gain credit for his government's successes and avoid blame for the failures.

It lays bare the workings of the 'court' that he created in Downing Street - Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Fiona Millar, Anji Hunter and Jonathan Powell, among others - and shows how effectively he used it to project his image and protect himself from criticism, until the tensions between its members became too great, and it began to fall apart under the twin strains of the Iraq war and Cherie Blair's friendship with Carole Caplin. At the heart of the book is the prime minister himself. The authors have talked to many people both on and off the record - friends of the Blairs, MPs, party officials, former colleagues - and their testimony combines to produce a portrait of Tony Blair as someone who knows little and cares less about his party's history and beliefs; a man whose enormous charm conceals a ruthless conviction that he is in the right, and a remarkable ability to get others to do his dirty work for him.

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Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews
Two British journalists collaborate on an expose of Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Booth-without the cooperation of either subject. Beckett (biographer of Clement Attlee and Aneurin Bevan) teams with Guardian investigative journalist Hencke in an attempt to demonstrate that Blair and Booth are poseurs and liars who have used their political power wisely from time to time but should not be trusted by any voter anywhere in the UK. An in-depth biography of a sitting prime minister is by definition timely; the timeliness is only enhanced by the alliance that has developed between Blair and US President George W. Bush. Both men proclaim themselves devout Christians who are guided by their religious faith. Although something of a rebel through his university years, Blair, born in 1953, began to kowtow to Labour Party kingmakers, big-business political donors, and celebrities during his unlikely rise to the prime ministership, which he achieved in 1997. Engaged to Booth in 1977 and married to her in 1980, Blair relied on her wiliness and savvy in many of the ways that Bill Clinton relied on wife Hillary; it is probably no coincidence that Blair and Booth, Bill and Hillary, are all lawyers. Especially fascinating to celebrity worshippers among American readers will be the chapters on the relationship of Blair and Booth with Princess Diana before her death. Blair's popularity during his first year as prime minister shot up astronomically, simply because he seemed sympathetic to Diana and her loved ones after the fatal accident, at least when contrasted with the iciness of her former husband, Prince Charles, and the remainder of the Royal family. Although the authorsreveal little new about how Blair came to back Bush's invasion of Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001, the account is filled with compelling details and told with verve. It is also, however, so unrelentingly negative about Blair, Booth, and many of their cohorts as to become exhausting and exhaustive.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781845130244
  • Publisher: Aurum Press, Limited
  • Publication date: 4/1/2005
  • Pages: 356
  • Product dimensions: 6.26 (w) x 9.52 (h) x 1.29 (d)

Table of Contents

Preface vii
1 The Making of Teflon Tony 1
2 Oxford, Rock and Religion 23
3 God, Cherie and the Law 33
4 Rising Through the Snakepit 45
5 Blair Wins as Labour Loses 61
6 The Early Kinnock Years 75
7 The Decline of Kinnock and the Rise of Blair 94
8 Chafing Under John Smith's Leadership 122
9 The Man Who Would Be King 139
10 Dividing the Spoils 162
11 The Blair Court Takes Charge 182
12 The Road to Foot and Mouth 214
13 The Rich and the Royal 234
14 The Court at Number 10 261
15 America and Iraq 282
16 Who Is Tony Blair? 323
Notes 339
Index 348
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