History > 2007 > UK > Politics > Prime Minister Tony Blair (IV)

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain

and Pope Benedict XVI today in the Vatican.

L'Osservatore Romano via Associated Press

Blair Meets With Pope in Farewell Visit

NYT        23.6.2007

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Vatican-Blair.html

Britain under Blair: 1997 to 2007

We have grown so used to life under Tony Blair that it is easy to forget how much the UK has evolved during his time in power. Andy McSmith looks back on a decade of dramatic change

Published: 28 June 2007
The Independent

It was a very different day, when Tony Blair made his triumphal entry into Downing Street, on 1 May 1997. The main sports news was of a late goal by Alan Shearer against Georgia, which in effect secured England's place in the following year's World Cup.

The commentators were still at a loss to understand why the England coach, Glenn Hoddle, insisted on keeping the talented young David Beckham tight on the right wing instead of letting him loose in the middle.

As to the future Mrs Beckham, not many people could have accurately recalled her full name then. But most people had heard of "Posh Spice", part of the five-girl singing group whose single "Wannabe" had taken the music world by storm 10 months earlier. Their only rivals in popularity were Oasis, whose third album, released that summer, became the fastest-selling album in chart history.

It was into this world of glamorous Britpop and "Cool Britannia" that the young new Prime Minister and his untested team would fit so easily.

That morning, of course, it was the Blairs themselves making the news. As he and Cherie made their slow progress on foot to their new home, in brilliant sunshine past the cheering, flag-waving crowd, many believed that "things can only get better".

Everything about Labour seemed new and fresh. At 43, Tony Blair was the youngest Prime Minister for more than a century. He brought the unfamiliar sound of young children running about in the flat above No 11. He had never previously held any government post. The same was true of almost his entire new administration, except for a few old-timers such as the indestructible Margaret Beckett, who had held junior posts in the 1970s.

Of course, there were patches of the UK that were not basking in the general sense of goodwill. At the Maze prison, in Northern Ireland, loyalist terrorists were holding a rooftop protest over changes to the prison regime introduced after the discovery of an IRA escape tunnel. The violence in the province dragged on without remission - the ghastly Omagh bombing lay ahead - and yet the outgoing Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, said he believed peace was a real prospect quite soon. That day, the province learnt that, for the first time, a woman - Mo Mowlam - had been appointed Northern Ireland Secretary. Some political leaders were appalled at the thought.

But the main thing on people's minds was what would happen to the economy under its new masters. Previously, each time a Labour government had taken office, there had been an almost immediate run on the pound, triggering an economic crisis. However, the City was less nervous about Mr Blair and his Chancellor, Gordon Brown, than it had been about previous Labour leaders, because of their cast-iron promise not to raise public spending for two years above the level set by the Tories. Homeowners were warned that if the Governor of the Bank of England, Eddie George, went into Gordon Brown's office and asked for a rise in interest rates Mr Brown would almost certainly comply, as a demonstration of his toughness. The Daily Mail forecast that his next move would be to sack Mr George, to get the Bank firmly under government control. No one guessed that the new Chancellor would do the opposite and give the bank independence, surrendering all control over the setting of interest rates.

One of the main causes of inflation was the boom in house prices. That day, it was reported that London prices had risen more than 20 per cent in one year, overtaking the 1989 peak. The average London house now cost a staggering £85,378.

In 1997, office staff were trying to get to grips with mobile phones that were cheap to buy and small enough to be held in the hand - though you needed to take care the aerial did not snap off. On that morning in May, Barclays and Cellnet announced that they had come together to organise a service under which people could use their phones to check their bank balances.

Another puzzling new phenomenon was the World Wide Web. That day, a Scandinavian oil company offered all its thousands of employees free computers at home, but only on condition that they all agreed to learn how to log on to the internet.

There was one other significant talking point: the burgeoning relationship between Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. It was obvious that Dodi's rich, ambitious father, Mohamed Al Fayed, was looking forward to being father-in-law of a superstar.

The way we lived then...

Population: 58.314m

Male life expectancy: 74.5

Female life expectancy: 79.6

GDP per capita: £13,900

Inflation: 3.1%

Average house price: £68,504

Unemployment: 7.2%

Cars licensed: 26.974m

Prison population: 69,000

Adult smokers: c28%

A-level pass rate: 87.7%

Households with computer: c27%

Maximum NHS waiting time: 18 months

UK servicemen killed in action: none

Ten years later, what was new then is old and familiar now, perhaps too familiar. Gordon Brown's entry into 10 Downing Street could hardly have been less glamorous, with no flags, no cheering crowds, no boyish grin on the Prime Minister's face. Even the sun did not shine for Gordon.

The biggest political difference between then and now is where the troops are.

Earlier this week, the Army announced that it had finally closed the Bessbrook base, in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, where the last British soldier killed in the troubles, Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, was shot dead by a sniper while he was manning a checkpoint in February 1997.

British soldiers are dying in greater numbers than they did under the Tories because of two of the five wars in which Tony Blair involved the UK.

On Friday last week, Cpl John Rigby became the 153rd British soldier killed in Iraq since 2003. Two days later, Drummer Thomas Wright became the 61st to die in Afghanistan. Since 2003, one British soldier a week has died in "Blair's wars" - rather worse than the average of 42 a year who died in Northern Ireland's troubles.

At home, Mr Brown takes over a country that is wealthier, far more savvy about the internet and other innovations, and with better public services than in 1997, but more nervous about the future. The country has enjoyed 15 years of almost uninterrupted growth and steady interest rates, but rightly or wrongly, many fear that it cannot last. People feel markedly less secure in their jobs than they did 10 years ago.

Rising house prices, which used to underpin middle-class wealth and well-being, are now becoming a source of anxiety as parents wonder how their children will ever be able to afford a home of their own. The price of the average UK home has risen to £210,578, while the average London price is £341,321 - four times the 1997 level.

First-time buyers have to spend more than three times their annual income on a home, committing themselves to paying almost a fifth of their income on interest payments.

It is not surprising that Mr Brown has said that the minister of housing he appoints today will report directly to the Cabinet. The NHS is in a better state than it was 10 years ago, contrary to what many people think, mainly because of the money Labour has lavished on it.

The NHS has 32,000 more doctors, and 40,000 more nurses than 10 years ago, and carries out 500,000 more operations every year, according to official figures. But the fiasco that was the new job selection for junior doctors has exacerbated relations between the Government and the profession, leaving an air of crisis hanging over a service Mr Brown has said will be high on his agenda.

Standards in schools have also improved, according to a report last week from the education charity, the Sutton Trust, but it added that "this assessment is inconclusive as it is so hard to say with certainty what the extent of any progress has been". Many people find that to be an unsatisfactory return for the huge increase in spending.

But if children are less good at spelling and maths than they ought to be, they have become astonishingly literate in using computers to chatter to one another, or entertain each other, as has been shown in the meteoric rise of new internet services such as Facebook and YouTube. Tony Blair proved reasonably adept at keeping pace with youth culture, as he showed in his cameo with Catherine Tate for Red Nose Day. Gordon Brown has none of his predecessor's talent for riding the zeitgeist.

It is difficult to imagine Mr Brown comfortably doing a turn with a professional comedian, or reacting to an event such as the death of the Princess of Wales by coining the phrase the "People's Princess" - and anyway, he has dispensed with the spin doctors and image managers who could assist him. However, after all the furore over spin doctors, the Iraq dossiers, the death of David Kelly, and the Blairs' fondness for mingling with the rich, an older, more dour Prime Minister may be what the mood of the nation demands. It is goodbye, Cool Britannia - hello, Clunking Britannia.

... and the way we live now

Population: 60.78m

Male life expectancy: 76.2

Female life expectancy: 81.3

GDP per capita: £18,000

Inflation: 2.5%

Average house price: £210,578

Households with computer: c63%

Unemployment: 5.5%

Cars licensed: 30.9m

Prison population: 80,000

Adult smokers: c24.5%

A-level pass rate: 96.6%

Maximum NHS waiting time: six months

British servicemen killed in action: 35

    Britain under Blair: 1997 to 2007, I, 28.6.2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2717265.ece

After Decade as Premier, Blair Yields to Brown

June 28, 2007
By ALAN COWELL
The New York Times

LONDON, June 27 — On a day of poignant farewells and sober new promises, Gordon Brown took over Wednesday from Tony Blair as prime minister, offering Britain a pledge to “try my utmost” and declaring, “Now, let the work of change begin.”

For his part, Mr. Blair moved on swiftly, shedding the leadership with a wisecrack and resigning as a member of Parliament to assume the new mantle of Middle East representative for the so-called quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

The transfer of power, almost brutal in its brevity, signaled the start of the real political contest that will shape Britain’s future, pitting the dour and calculating Mr. Brown against the smooth-talking Conservative leader, David Cameron.

Mr. Brown also faces momentous challenges in seeking to build a new political impetus to carry Labor to an unparalleled fourth term whenever he calls elections.

He will need to revive his Labor Party’s electoral fortunes, which have suffered from Britain’s involvement in the deeply unpopular war in Iraq. He must also rekindle public trust in the party and deal with potentially explosive issues, including the extrication of British forces from Iraq without alienating the White House.

The political landscape is all the more tangled for Mr. Brown, in that he was the architect of many of the policies in health, education and housing that he is now promising to change.

Yet, as was underscored by Wednesday’s low-key events, he will try to do so without the flashing wit and charisma of Mr. Blair, who had captivated the nation until he sacrificed his popularity by sending British troops to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For all the years Mr. Brown had waited for his moment of triumph outside 10 Downing Street, he seemed less confident and more low-key in his delivery than Mr. Blair. He offered hard work but no grand visions. Impatient with trivia and ill-equipped to emulate Mr. Blair’s easy charm, Mr. Brown signaled Wednesday that he would seek to impress Britain’s voters with a more traditional and far less personal political style.

His words suggested as much a shift in tone as an effort to create a new social compact built on what Mr. Brown has called the values of his own moral compass, like hard work and fairness.

As if to amplify the earnest new mood music, Mr. Brown, the 56-year-old son of a Church of Scotland minister with a reputation for dourness, quoted his old school motto: “I will try my utmost.”

Mr. Brown’s hoopla-free accession offered a marked contrast to the flag-waving jubilation of party supporters who greeted Mr. Blair at Downing Street after the landslide victory in 1997 that ended Labor’s 18 years in opposition.

Specifically, Mr. Brown said he would seek to enhance the prospects for young people to buy homes in Britain’s skyrocketing real estate market and to improve state-run schools and hospitals. In effect, he was pledging to complete the domestic reforms that Mr. Blair left unfinished. Moreover, Mr. Brown hinted that he would seek a new style of government away from the narrow coterie of Labor loyalists who advised Mr. Blair. “I will reach out beyond narrow party interests,” Mr. Brown said. “I will build a government that uses all the talents.”

He did not say whom he would seek to embrace. The small opposition Liberal Democrats have already rebuffed an approach, but Mr. Brown has persuaded a midranking member of the opposition, Quentin Davies, to defect, chastening Mr. Cameron and robbing him of political momentum.

Mr. Brown did not offer a detailed account of his intentions toward Iraq or President Bush, reportedly the first world leader to telephone the new prime minister with congratulations.

Mr. Brown rose to the highest office after years in waiting as the prime minister’s sometimes loyal, sometimes impatient lieutenant in a rivalry that became legend. But the transfer of office unfolded to a smooth and time-honored script. Each man went separately to meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace — Mr. Blair to quit and Mr. Brown to assume office — the closing acts of a decade since Mr. Blair came to power.

Beyond the pageantry, though, Mr. Brown embarked on the hard-nosed business of dropping some cabinet ministers and elevating his chosen team. Several senior figures, including John Reid, the home secretary; Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith, and Deputy Prime Minister John Leslie Prescott, all said they would retire along with Mr. Blair.

Mr. Brown’s allies include Edward Balls, a close adviser who is already a government minister, and Alastair Darling, who is expected to take over Mr. Brown’s previous job as chancellor of the Exchequer. Several other Blairite stalwarts, including the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, and the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, are likely to lose their jobs, the BBC reported.

Mr. Blair’s last few hours included a remarkable exchange in Parliament with Mr. Cameron, the Tory leader, who has routinely sought to mock and belittle the prime minister’s political record at the weekly encounters known as Prime Minister’s Questions.

But the half-hour session ended Wednesday with legislators from both government and opposition rising to give Mr. Blair an unusual standing ovation. Seen often as something of a showman, Mr. Blair declared to much laughter, “I wish everyone, friend or foe, well — and that is that: the end.”

In more somber tones, he referred to the British troops he had deployed alongside American forces, saying he was “truly sorry about the dangers they face today in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Mr. Brown’s meeting with the queen at Buckingham Palace was an unusually lengthy one, running 55 minutes. While he was there, his unarmored Vauxhall sedan was quietly replaced with an armor-plated Daimler, reflecting the heightened security arrangements and prestige associated with his new office.

Mr. Blair set records for the Labor Party by winning three straight election victories, and he said in September 2004, several months before the last ballot, in May 2005, that he was ready to serve a full third term, usually four or five years. But that pledge crumbled under sustained pressure from Mr. Brown’s supporters, who mounted a revolt, forcing Mr. Blair to commit himself to an earlier departure.

Mr. Blair choreographed one of the longest farewells, announcing seven weeks ago that he would quit on June 27. But the trappings of power fell away quickly. In early May, when Mr. Blair traveled to northeast England to announce his impending departure, he went in presidential style, with an executive jet, a motorcade and motorcycle outriders. On Wednesday, after leaving Buckingham Palace, he was taken to the railroad station and went by train, British news reports said.

Mr. Blair left with a final word of praise from President Bush in an interview with The Sun. “I’ve heard he’s been called Bush’s poodle,” Mr. Bush said. “He’s bigger than that. This is just background noise, a distraction.

“We’ve served together during a time of war, and shared the same determination to succeed. We analyzed the enemy the same way — and found each other in the same foxhole.”

    After Decade as Premier, Blair Yields to Brown, NYT, 28.6.2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/world/europe/28brown.html?hp

Last Night: Tony Blair, Sedgefield

Amid the sorrow, it ended where it had all begun

Published: 28 June 2007
The Independent
By Ian Herbert

Tony Blair was obliged to take the train from King's Cross station, rather than an aircraft of the Queen's Flight, to his constituency last night and the car dispatched to collect him from Darlington railway station arrived late. But at least he could rely on the Trimdon Labour Club, his totemic place of solace in times of triumph and disaster, for some constancy.

In the club's chilly Concert Room, last used on Sunday for old-time dancing, the Nescafé, Typhoo tea bags and polystyrene cups were lined up as ever for the constituency meeting at which Mr Blair told members why he had stood down as their MP.

Mr Blair, who had resigned his seat before taking the train, had just missed a stunning double rainbow when he pulled up at 7.10pm with his wife.

There was no vehicle to collect them and they had loitered there for five excruciating minutes, with children shouting "hello Tony" at him, before a four-year-old, maroon Vauxhall Omega (42,000 miles on the clock) drew up. So this was how the other half lived.

The car delivered the Blairs to their home in the constituency, Myrobella House - the Victorian former doctor's home where the radiator near the sitting room door was always Mr Blair's favoured spot - before the two-minute drive to the Trimdon club. Here, Sedgefield Labour Party members were gathering to pay some last respects.

Their former MP took the stage and the hand-held microphone for 20 minutes of reflection which, as epitaphs to 24-year careers go, was rather less than sparkling. Maybe Mr Blair was all out of emotion, or maybe this was about the Labour Party's desire to keep some perspective about the evening. One apparatchik in the club said: "It's Gordon's day."

The Trimdon club, Mr Blair said, was "the place which has sustained me through all the years" but leaving it behind was necessary. "It's one thing to be absent as a prime minister, another if I would be in the Middle East. I think it's right that this constituency now has a full-time MP." And that, after some gentle reflection on Sedgefield years and the events of this day, was pretty much that. "My final words from this stage are: thank you," he concluded.

The security for him outside said everything about how one day can change everything.

"Hold that line, as if there were a barrier there," one of his staff told the phalanx of photographers before the Blairs swept away at 8.15pm for a drink at Tony's favourite local pub - the Dun Cow in nearby Sedgefield.

Here, just four short years ago, he and George Bush shared an orange juice and a low-alcohol lager. After an overnight stay at Myrobella, Mr Blair is expected to travel across the constituency this morning to help launch the campaign to get a successor elected.

A shortlist of six will be drawn up as early as Saturday by Labour's national executive committee (Phil Wilson, a party friend of Mr Blair, is favourite) and the by-election which consigns Mr Blair's parliamentary career to history may take place as early as 19 July. "Anyone elected after that wouldn't be paid until October, so it needs to be soon," said Mr Burton last night. Sentimentality seems to have its limits, even in Trimdon.

    Last Night: Tony Blair, Sedgefield, I, 28.6.2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2717282.ece

'I wish everybody, friend or foe, well. And that is that. The end' ... and then he was gone

June 28, 2007
From The Times
 Ann Treneman: The Last Farewell

There was a dramatic change of mood at No 10 yesterday as our two Prime Ministers came and went under a thunderous sky. Tony Blair was sad to go, his face full of emotion as he rumpled his son Leo’s hair for the family’s final photograph on the famous doorstep. Leo has never known another home. Tony Blair was leaving the job he loved. This was a last family moment in a place that was their home too.

They posed for posterity though perhaps for no other reason, really. Cherie, magestic in magenta, was ungracious to the last. As she got into Pegasus, as the prime ministerial Jaguar is called, she could not resist one last swipe at the hated media. “Goodbye,” she said over her shoulder, “I don’t think we’ll miss you.” And so it was, in the end, Cherie who had the last word.

It was an hour and half before Pegasus, now carrying Gordon and Sarah Brown, returned through the Downing Street gates. The moment that Mr Brown emerged from the car, the mood in the street changed. His first act was one of old-fashioned manners: he walked round and opened the car door for his wife. She emerged, looking radiant, and watched (silently) as he gave a short formal speech. When he had finished he just stood there, looking incredibly awkward. He certainly has not learnt to wave yet. “Prime Minister!” shouted the photographers. Mr Brown showed no sign of recognition. It was all, apparently, still too new.

Mr Blair often feels the hand of history on his shoulder and there it was again at PMQs yesterday. But this time we all could feel it too. It was a magnificent performance, full of humour and grace and, at the end, his tiny but perfectly formed speech conveyed dignity and loss in equal measure. There was one joke that he had prepared earlier (there always is). An MP asked a question that was, tangentially, about jobs. Then, with a flourish, Mr Blair brought out a piece of paper.

“The following communication came across by urgent letter yesterday,” he noted, reading: “Details of employee leaving work: Surname – Blair. First name – T!” He added, as an aside: “It says actually, Mr, Mrs, Ms or Other.” He paused again before announcing: “This form is important. Take good care of it. P45.”

The questions were, as ever with PMQs, randomly chosen but they reflected the themes of his past 10 years: Iraq (both pro and anti), jobs, the NHS, education, Europe, Northern Ireland and, yes, religion. David Cameron, wisely, pulled his punches for he couldn’t have won yesterday, especially with the egregious (and orange) Quentin Davies oozing all over the Labour benches.

There was even the traditional ridiculous Lib Dem question. Richard Younger-Ross, who is eccentric even by Lib Dem standards (and that is bad), was agonised about the relationship between Church and State. Mr Blair looked non-plussed as he said, to hoots of delight: “I am really not bothered about that one.”

The wonderfully pompous Sir Nicholas Winterton arose from the Tory benches, spluttering with despair that the UK was being drawn into the “suffocating quicksand and bureaucracy” of the EU. Mr Blair burst out laughing. “First of all, I like the honourable gentleman,” he said. “As for his good wishes, I would say to him: Au revoir, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci!”

The ancient monument that is the Rev Ian Paisley arose. “Could I say that I fully understand the exasperation that you felt many a day when I visited your office!” Everyone laughed, for he is funny these days. The great gravelly voice paid tribute, as did others yesterday, to Mr Blair’s steadfast pursuit of peace.

It was over time, about 12.33, when Tony Blair said that he had two short things to say. “Firstly to this House, I’ve never pretended to be a House of Commons man but I can pay the House the greatest compliment I can by saying that, from first to last, I never stopped fearing it. That tingling apprehension that I felt at three minutes to 12 today, I felt as much 10 years ago, and every bit as acute. It is in that fear that the respect is contained.”

He went on: “Some may belittle politics but we who are engaged in it know that it is where people stand tall. Although I know that it has its many harsh contentions, it is still the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. If it is, on occasions, the place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes. I wish everyone, friend or foe, well.”

His voice trembled. “And that is that.”

His voice broke. “The End.”

The House arose, almost as one. MPs (except for the Scots Nats) and the packed public galleries stood and clapped for some time as Mr Blair collected himself. Mr Brown thwacked him on the back and, then, he was gone. He will never return. The end, yes, and for Gordon Brown, as he watched him leave, the end of waiting.

    'I wish everybody, friend or foe, well. And that is that. The end' ... and then he was gone, Ts, 28.6.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/the_blair_years/article1996718.ece

The Sketch: Waving, and drowning in tears: a fitting swansong

Published: 28 June 2007
The Independent
Simon Carr

What a day, I'm quite wrung out. The Palace of Westminster was full of people scurrying. They all seemed to have somewhere to go. That's infuriating for someone like me. No one knows what's going on. It's the most hermetic reshuffle in history. Now that there's only one clique instead of two the era of open government is at an end.

The chamber. Packed. The raked seats stacked with journalists at this end and the public at the other. We all looked down below, into the concentrated, buttock-to-buttock presence of Britain. First, Quentin Davies arrived and sat on the Labour benches. He was put in the special hell reserved for Tory traitors. This is the seat between Kali Mountford and Gillian Merron. Kali kept talking to him. Well, you chose it, mate!

Tony Blair. His swansong. He deployed his full range of talents. The solemnities for the dead. Obsequies for the troops. Then a lift: "I'll have no such further meetings today" (a twist on the conventional formula). He gave some of the most brilliant answers of his tenure, for example, Q: Why has the educational achievement of white British boys declined? A: It has gone up enormously. Those bald denials are not as easy as they look.

When Nicholas Winterton asked a boisterous question, he began his reply: "I LIKE the hon gentleman!" What easy grace the man has.

He finished with the remark: "I never pretended to be a great House of Commons man." (ironic laughter) "But from first to last I never stopped fearing it." (An attentive silence). "And it is in that fear that respect is contained." I wish we'd known that before. "That is that," he concluded. "The end." Choking sobs. Some rending of garments. Tessa Jowell tried to immolate herself but was extinguished by the Foreign Secretary's sobs. Labour rose, applauding. The Tories sat stupidly. Then their front bench stood, Cameron turned and made his lot stand as well. Even as he was walking out of the chamber Blair made them look 1) Mean-spirited, 2) Embarrassed, 3) Insincere.

In Whitehall, a small crowd outside Downing Street watched the PM leave for the Palace. No one cheered. Two girls clapped for six seconds. No tickertape. The only banners denounced him. How nice it is not to live in America.

After far too long, the new PM arrived from the Palace. He and his wife, like two animatronic versions of themselves wandered towards the microphones. "Wave! Wave!" the photographers yelled. He knew he couldn't be seen to be obeying media requests for artificial gestures. But he had to wave. So he waved without waving. Again and again, his hand came palm-up to a position just in front of him, as though patting the bottom of an invisible cherub.

Then there was the "strength and change" speech (take that, Cameron!), and he did his robot dance to the step of No 10 where it seemed for a nail-biting age that the door wouldn't open. "See," the last of the Blairites would have been gloating. "It isn't as easy as you thought, Gordon!"

    The Sketch: Waving, and drowning in tears: a fitting swansong, I, 28.6.2007, http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/simon_carr/article2717257.ece

Letters: 'Good riddance' to Blair

Published: 28 June 2007
The Independent

Even without a cigarette, I can drink 'good riddance' to Blair

Sir: At least on Monday 2 July I will have one less pressing reason to draw on a calming cigarette with my drink in my pub. Having been barred that indulgence I may at least know that the worst may be over.

Sadly, the nasty pubs that I grew up in, the muggy beer-soaked places with foam- stained glasses and stub-stacked ashtrays will be no more. I'm not sure that I will want to spend much time discoursing and joking in some ersatz cafe that happens to sell alcohol. My lovely smoke-filled pubs will be gone. Maybe I'll talk about them in later life and try to explain to young people quite why an English pub was such a special place for those generations upon generations who so loved them.

Pub conversations were madcap and enriching. When they strayed from football, pop music, religion, philosophy and art, they tended to disparage government. Any government. Perhaps that's why Blair has seen them off.

How am I to handle this? How, without a cigarette and a pint am I to ameliorate my guilt for having helped empower a man who went on to disgrace my country and debase his office? By raising a glass and saying, "Good riddance."

PHIL GRIFFIN

MANCHESTER

Sir: In response to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's article "We must never forget the damage Blair has done" (25 June), I am in no way trying to defend the actions of Tony Blair, however it is important to remember that a lot of the current issues in the world are, at least in part, due to the actions of militant fundamentalists hijacking planes, and suicide bombers terrorising commuters. The perpetual global problems caused by religious zealots cannot be the fault of the Labour government of the UK. Islamophobia has been caused by a minority of extremist Muslims killing people.

DAVID RAFELT

KINGS LANGLEY, HERTFORDSHIRE

Sir: Satire is dead. Under Blair's leadership, Britain has colluded in the invasion, occupation and utter devastation of Iraq, blocked UN action to end Israel's invasion and bombardment of Lebanon, conspired with the EU, US and Israel to impose a crippling economic blockade on the Palestinian people, and refused to implement the earlier wishes of the European Parliament to suspend Israel's preferred trading status with the EU. And now this war-mongering, hypocritical, war criminal's apprentice is to be appointed a peace envoy to the Middle East of all places.

CHRIS WEBSTER

ABERGAVENNY

Sir: Now that this self-serving and insensitive man has finally gone, please can we have a whole issue without any mention of Tony Blair?

MARY HARRIS

LONDON W11

Iraq has shredded Brown's credibility

Sir: Simon O'Connor asks Gordon Brown: "With the benefit of hindsight, was it wrong to invade Iraq?" (You Ask the Questions, 27 June). Brown replies: "No". Thus, in my view and I am sure that of millions of others, in one simple word his credibility is totally shredded. May I be first to sign the "Brown Must Go" petition?

KEITH O'NEILL

SHROPSHIRE GREEN PARTY SHREWSBURY

Sir: Gordon Brown says it was not wrong to invade Iraq even with the benefit of hindsight. Does he not think hindsight has disproven the claims about WMD, or is he saying he would have supported war even if he had known these claims were false?

MATTHEW DOBSON

YORK

Sir: Gordon Brown assumes the mantle of Prime Minister, and many of us are eagerly looking to him to act upon and accelerate the foreign policy promises made when Labour was elected in 1997, and repeated since.

He must put the UK at the forefront of the fight for fairer trade rules, so that poor countries can benefit from globalisation.

He must make sure that the UK pursues a fair and ethical foreign policy, which doesn't shrink from acting with the UN to protect people from genocide or other human rights abuses. It is equally important to criticise publicly other governments or regimes that fail to do so.

He must respond to the challenge of climate change, and help those in developing countries, who are least responsible for, but most vulnerable to, the effects of climate changes.

MARK FITZSIMONS

PLYMOUTH

Sir: We have just finished 10 years of government the shape of which was apparently determined by a private agreement between two men to divide the premiership between them.

We don't even know the details of that arrangement, but its effect has been to install the new Prime Minister. Blair's tenure was defined to a large extent by animosity between the two; yet we had the experience at the weekend of hearing utterly hypocritical and sick-making displays of mutual respect and affection.

Add to that Harriet Harman's complete lack of principle in the spin about her stand on the Iraq war, and there can be no wonder about why people are completely turned off by politics.

LAWRENCE JOHNSTON

MODRYDD, BRECON

The aliens, if any exist, could get here

Sir: Graham Rankin's letter ("Stop worrying about alien invaders", 26 June) complains about David Whitehouse's article on and ends with a plea to "teach children real astronomy". As an astronomy lecturer, I'm all in favour of teaching children real astronomy ....

Such as that space, to quote the late Douglas Adams, is big: the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper belt do exist, but they're extremely sparsely populated. Negotiating them is far from "impossible". On the contrary, most ships wouldn't even notice they were there. (We've sent several craft through the much more densely populated asteroid belt without any problems.)

Such as that although space is expanding, the galaxy, and indeed the entire local group of galaxies, is not (gravitationally bound systems do not participate in the Hubble flow). Aliens from outside the local group are at least several million light years away, and have not received any signals sent since the evolution of Homo erectus.

Such as that a radar beam travelling at the speed of light is still travelling at the speed of light as seen from your near-light-speed spacecraft. That's what Einstein says, and experiments show that he was right.

Such as that dark matter and dark energy pervade, as far as we know, all of space. They don't bother us here, and they wouldn't bother an alien spacecraft. Gas clouds might present a problem, but they are highly visible and easy to map: just drive round them.

Such as that travelling near light speed, per se, is no different from being stationary, and certainly wouldn't destroy your spacecraft. Newton knew that.

Such as that the estimate of "hundreds of generations" for interstellar travel implicitly assumes humanoid aliens. What if they can hibernate? Or have a "pupal" stage in their life cycle? Or simply have extremely long lives?

David Whitehouse's concerns may well be overblown - sadly, more likely because alien civilisations are extremely rare than because they are not dangerous. But arguing that they are baseless on the basis of half-understood half-truths does nobody any good.

DR SUSAN CARTWRIGHT

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

New crops to beat world food shortage

Sir: The spectre of a world food shortage ("The fight for the world's food", 23 June) is not new. In the 1970s predictions of an inability to feed ourselves by the end of the century abounded, as a result of which agriculture received government support and research was encouraged.

The outcome was the breeding of higher-yielding crops, improved methods of livestock production and the rapid development of now much maligned herbicides and pesticides. Not only did we survive but we created surpluses and, but for the inhuman attitudes of governments, the West could have gone a long way to eliminating famine in other parts of the world.

Years of plenty have resulted in complacency, with support for food production being switched to preserving the countryside, a commendable aim provided that we are still able to feed ourselves. Perhaps it is time for the idealists to face up to the reality of the future and accept that if our grandchildren are to survive we have to embrace the technology of GM crops.

NICHOLAS BOND

LOWER QUINTON, WARWICKSHIRE

Sir: Your article warns against a danger spelt out by Sir Julian Huxley in 1938, predicting catastrophe for Africa by the end of the 20th century. Is disaster inevitable then? Not necessarily. One factor not mentioned is security in old age. Most elderly people across the developed world have pensions, and access to medical services. People in the "third world" depend on their children for social security. No wonder they seek to have large families.

In the West, the size of families has fallen in line with prosperity and better health. The greatest gift we could give to the poor of the world is a share in our prosperity, helping them to build their economies and trade on a fair basis with the developed world. This is obviously a long-term solution, but one with a real chance of stabilising human population growth and giving us hope that we will not ultimately eat up our planet.

DR PETER GIFFORD

HENGOED, SHROPSHIRE

After the floods, the swollen utility bills

Sir: After the awful floods and chaos experienced across Britain it was commented that the current drainage system could not cope. No doubt people will bury their heads in the sand and continue to believe that reducing CO2 emissions will save the planet, while the more logically minded will realise that we need to start planning for permanent climate change right now.

So will the utility companies who have seen obscene profits plough money back into the services they have found so lucrative or will the average customer be expected to pay even bigger bills to cover the "unforeseen" circumstances? I suspect the shareholders will hold more sway than the customers.

T HARRIS

STRATFORD UPON AVON, WARWICKSHIRE

Sir: It is ludicrous that the Government has a £20bn budget for road building, which will increase flooding risk, both by increasing CO2 emissions and by concreting over more of the countryside, while the budget for flood defences has been cut year after year. The Government needs to wake up to the realities of climate change before more lives are lost.

JULIE WHITE

SHEFFIELD

Sir: Is it too naive to suppose that if we had a national grid for water (a concept the water companies persistently dismiss as impracticable), not only would low-supply areas be helped by areas where supplies are plentiful, but that reservoirs such as the Ulley Dam would never need to get so full as to become liable to burst?

GARRY HUMPHREYS

LONDON N13

School governors face exam overkill

Sir: The effects of over-testing are not limited to pupils (letter, 26 June). In schools today governors, along with the school's senior leadership team, have endless self-evaluation forms to complete, along with creating records of the evidence used in the evaluation.

Examples of these evaluations are: The School Self-Evaluation Form, The Financial Management Standard in Schools, Healthy Schools Standard, the Finance and Administration audit, Sustainability Self-Evaluation, Health & Safety audit and so on. Almost all of these evaluations begin with a section on leadership that asks very similar questions about how governors and headteachers lead the school.

It is sometimes difficult for governors, who are all volunteers, to find time to do any leadership since so much time has to be spent on evaluating how we are doing it.

JO FRITH

SIDMOUTH, DEVON

Price of a crusade

Sir: If Dr David Gosling (letter, 26 June) is teaching his impressionable students at the University of Peshawar that Salman Rushdie's knighthood is part of a "crusade against Islam", then must he not bear his share of responsibility for the "recriminations against Christians and British citizens" which he forecasts?

STEPHEN CHURCHETT

BRIGHTON

A famous nobody

Sir: Paris Hilton is the lead story on almost every news broadcast around the world. This can only mean the world is coming to an end. Troops are dying in Iraq, the Iranians are fermenting trouble, the economy, immigration and a host of other important issues become back-page stories. When did we as a society go so off track? Paris, known by her first name only, is a nobody who has accomplished nothing and is famous for being infamous.

NORM GRUDMAN

DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA, USA

Maternal apostrophe

Sir: To add my two-pennorth to the Fathers' Day debate: years ago, I wrote a television play entitled Mother's Day; the title, correctly punctuated, said exactly what I meant it to say. Interestingly, TV Times "corrected" it to Mothers' Day. I had that feeling when one deliberately, jokingly, mispronounces a word and is gently corrected.

RICHARD GALLAGHER

BRIGHTON

Chastity rings

Sir: Dr Shell (letter, 27 June) suggests that prohibiting chastity rings stands at odds with the permittance of pornography in newsagents' and calls for a little logic. Unfortunately his logic is flawed: chastity rings and pornography are both permitted in newsagents and both banned in schools. Children have tried many ruses to subvert the school dress code but to mock the church as they thumb their noses at the school suggests that these children's parents should take them in hand, not to court.

GERAINT HARRIES

NOTTINGHAM

Tory moves right

Sir: Quentin Davies's defection from the Tories is a first. Previously such Conservative MPs complained that their party was too right-wing, not too left-wing.

TONY GREENSTEIN

BRIGHTON

    Letters: 'Good riddance' to Blair, I, 28.6.2007, http://comment.independent.co.uk/letters/article2717254.ece

3.30pm

Cherie tells media: we won't miss you

Wednesday June 27, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Hélène Mulholland

Cherie Blair fired a parting shot at the media as she left Downing Street this afternoon by quipping: "Goodbye. I don't think we'll miss you."

The prime minister's wife risked souring an otherwise smooth and emotional round of farewells for Tony Blair by venting her feelings towards the broadcasters, photographers and reporters who have trailed her family closely for more than a decade.

After standing with her four children and silent husband on the steps of 10 Downing Street for a final photo opportunity, Mrs Blair turned straight to the television camera standing just feet away to give her final words as Britain's "first lady".

Clad in a fuchsia pink coat, Mrs Blair smiled and said to reporters: "Goodbye. I don't think we'll miss you."

It is not the first time the gaffe-prone Mrs Blair has spoken out of turn.

At last year's Labour party conference in Manchester, Mrs Blair upset the apple cart when Gordon Brown told delegates what a "privilege" it had been to work for her husband.

Mrs Blair was overheard by a reporter saying: "Well, that's a lie..." She later denied making the comment but the damage had already been done.

An embarrassed Mr Blair was forced to make a joke about it in his keynote conference speech.

Mrs Blair, who goes by her own name in her working life as Cherie Booth QC, has attracted her fair share of negative coverage over the years.

She is believed to have been stung by some of the more personal attacks, particularly in the early years when unkind articles were written about her hair and appearance.

    Cherie tells media: we won't miss you, G, 27.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/cherie/story/0,,2112863,00.html

1.15pm

Blair bids farewell to parliament

Wednesday June 27, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Deborah Summers and agencies

Tony Blair received a standing ovation from MPs of all parties today as he bid farewell to parliament at his last ever prime minister's question time.

Flanked by his successor, the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and his deputy, John Prescott, the outgoing premier said: "This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the house, I will have no such further meetings today - or any other day."

Mr Blair gave an upbeat, and at times, lighthearted performance to an emotionally charged chamber.

With his wife, Cherie, and family watching from the gallery above, Mr Blair paid tribute to Britain's troops, saying: "Whatever view people take of my decisions, I think there is only one view to take of them. They are the bravest and the best."

David Cameron stepped aside from the usual party political arguments to pay tribute to Mr Blair's "remarkable achievement of being prime minister for 10 years" and wish him well for the future.

The Tory leader said: "For all of the heated battles across this dispatch box, for 13 years you have led your party, for 10 years you have led your country and no one can be in any doubt, in terms of the huge efforts you have made in terms of public service.

"You have considerable achievements to your credit, whether it is peace in Northern Ireland, whether it is your work in the developing world, which I know will endure.

"I'm sure life in the public eye has sometimes been tough on your family. So can I say on behalf of my party that we wish you and your family well, and we wish you every success in whatever you do in the future."

Mr Blair returned the compliment, thanking the Tory leader and saying that despite their political differences, he had always found him "most proper, correct and courteous in your dealings with me".

Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, said that, despite their political disagreements, Mr Blair had been "unfailingly courteous" and also extended his party's best wishes to the departing prime minister and his family.

Ulster's first minister, the Rev Ian Paisley, paid tribute to Mr Blair, for his role in the Northern Ireland peace process, and said he was now entering into "another colossal task".

The house fell silent as he added: "I hope that what happened in Northern Ireland will be repeated."

In lighter moments there was laughter when, asked to promise a referendum on the new EU treaty by a Eurosceptic Tory MP, Mr Blair refused, and added: "Au revoir, auf wiedersehen and arrivederci."

And a few minutes later Mr Blair revealed he had yesterday received his P45.

After the father of the house, Alan Williams, bid the premier the final farewell, Mr Blair admitted that he had never been "much of a Commons man" but admitted he had "never stopped fearing" it and even today felt a "tingling apprehension" before question time.

In his final remarks to the Commons, the outgoing premier said: "I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end."

    Blair bids farewell to parliament, G, 27.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2112781,00.html

Gordon Brown to Take Over From Blair in Britain

June 27, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:17 a.m. ET
The New York Times

LONDON (AP) -- An emotional Tony Blair resigned as prime minister Wednesday after a decade in power, clearing the way for Treasury chief Gordon Brown to take command of the government.

Blair submitted his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II during a 25-minute closed-door meeting at Buckingham Palace. With his wife, Cherie, he waved to reporters and then traveled to his constituency in northern England, where he is expected to quit as a lawmaker to take up his post with the Quartet of Mideast peace mediators.

Brown, a 56-year-old Scot known for his often stern demeanor, beamed as he was applauded by Treasury staff before heading with his wife, Sarah, to the palace to be confirmed as prime minister.

Blair received a warm sendoff in the House of Commons, from his opponents as well as members of his own Labour party, after one final appearance at the weekly question time session.

''I wish everyone -- friend or foe -- well. And that is that. The end,'' he said.

Legislators rose to their feet and applauded as he left for his meeting with the queen. Some, including Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, wiped away tears.

Blair also used the session to say he was sorry for the perils faced by British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he gave no apology for his decisions to back the United States in taking military action.

Blair expressed condolences to the families of the fallen, this week including two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

''I am truly sorry about the dangers that they face today in Iraq and Afghanistan,'' Blair said.

''I know some may think that they face these dangers in vain; I don't and I never will. I believe they are fighting for the security of this country and the wider world against people who would destroy our way of life,'' he said.

''Whatever view people take of my decisions, I think there is only way view to take of them: they are the bravest and the best,'' Blair added.

David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, saluted Blair's achievements and wished him well.

''He has considerable achievements to his credit, whether it is peace in Northern Ireland, whether it is work in the developing world, which I know will endure,'' Cameron said.

''I'm sure that life in the public eye has sometimes been tough on this family. So can I say on behalf of my party that we wish him and his family well, and we wish him every success in whatever he does in the future.''

Workers packed furniture and boxes into a van outside Blair's Downing Street home as he prepared to hand power to Brown.

The incoming leader, who for many lacks the charisma of his predecessor, must woo Britons by shaking off the taint of backing the hugely unpopular Iraq war. With promises of restoring trust in government, he is planning to sweep aside the Blair era after a decade waiting for the country's top job.

Brown will seek to head off a challenge from a revived opposition Conservative party. Polls already point to a ''Brown bounce,'' with one survey putting his Labour party ahead of its rivals for the first time since October.

Few expected the dour former finance chief to be greeted with public enthusiasm. In fact, Brown's ascension was widely seen as a political gift for the more youthful Conservative chief David Cameron.

But Blair's last full day in office brought an unexpected present -- the defection of a Conservative legislator to his Labour party. The move put Brown in bullish mood and he will now weigh calling a national election as early as next summer.

President Bush paid a final tribute to his ally and will later call Blair's successor with congratulations.

''Tony's had a great run and history will judge him kindly,'' Bush told Britain's The Sun tabloid in remarks published Wednesday. ''I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that.''

Bush is thought to have been instrumental in winning Blair his new role as envoy to the Quartet of Mideast peace mediators.

Irish leader Bertie Ahern said Blair he told him his new role would be ''tricky,'' but said he wanted to focus on peacemaking.

''He believes if you have hands-on, persistent engagement then you can have real progress,'' Ahern told Ireland's state broadcaster RTE.

Brown has waited 13 years for this moment. Most keenly watched will be his policy toward Iraq. British troop numbers there have rapidly fallen during 2007.

Blair has left his successor an option to call back more of the remaining 5,500 personnel by 2008 -- an opportunity likely to be grasped by a leader with a national election to call before June 2010.

''His hands, whilst not quite clean, are certainly not sullied,'' said Alasdair Murray the director of CentreForum, a liberal think-tank. Brown can ''portray it as Blair's war and differentiate himself.''

Brown may sanction a future inquiry on Iraq, similar to the U.S. Study Group, telling a recent rally that Britain needs to acknowledge mistakes made over the conflict.

In Europe, bridges have been built with German chancellor Angela Merkel and new French president Nicholas Sarkozy, but tensions are likely to emerge.

The succession of Brown ends a partnership at the pinnacle of British politics that began when he and Blair were elected to Parliament in 1983 -- sharing an office and a vision to transform their party's fortunes.

It has been widely reported -- but never confirmed -- that the two men agreed a pact over dinner in 1994: Brown agreeing not to run against Blair for the Labour leadership following the death of then party chief John Smith.

In return, Blair reportedly vowed to give Brown broad powers as Treasury chief and to step down after a reasonable time to give Brown a shot at the senior post.

Though Brown, who was unopposed in a contest to select Blair's successor, is moving jobs -- he won't be moving house.

He, his wife, Sarah, and two young sons already live in the private quarters at No. 10 Downing Street -- the prime minister's official residence -- having switched homes with Blair's larger family, who needed the roomier apartment next door in No. 11, Brown's official residence.

    Gordon Brown to Take Over From Blair in Britain, NYT, 27.6.2007, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Brown.html?hp

Bush hails "strong guy" Blair, rejects "poodle" talk

Wed Jun 27, 2007
6:10AM EDT
Reuters
By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - President George W Bush wrote a lengthy tribute to Prime Minister Tony Blair on his last day in power on Wednesday, describing him as "a strong guy" and dismissing claims that the British leader acted as his "poodle."

In a two page special in Britain's biggest-selling daily tabloid, The Sun, Bush said he had "selfishly" asked Blair -- who is handing over power to his former finance minister Gordon Brown -- to stay on until he left the White House.

But Bush said Blair has always been "very gracious" about his successor, and when Brown came to visit him in Washington, he "wasn't the image of the dour Scotsman at all."

Blair, who ends his 10-year British premiership more popular in the United States than he is at home, forged an ultimately close partnership with Bush over the issue of Iraq, which the allies invaded in March 2003 to unseat Saddam Hussein.

Bush and Blair had originally seemed an unlikely pairing -- particularly with Bush following Blair's natural ally, Bill Clinton, into the White House.

But despite one being a rather brash, right-wing Texan and the other a more subdued Brit with socialist roots, Bush said the two men were united and firm in their partnership.

"We've served together during a time of war and shared the same determination to succeed. We analyzed the enemy the same way and found each other in the same foxhole," Bush told The Sun.

He added he thought Iraq would "turn out to be a positive legacy for us both."

Asked about the criticism Blair has faced at home and across the world for supporting the Iraq invasion, Bush said he had tried to "buck him up as a friend" but insisted Blair had acted according to his own mind.

"I've heard he's been called 'Bush's poodle'. He's bigger than that," he said. "We're working together to achieve global peace in the face of enormous danger. This kind of thing is just silly ridicule."

"Somehow our relationship has been seen as Bush saying to Blair, 'jump' and Blair saying, 'how high?'. But that's just not the way it works. It's a relationship where we say we're both going to jump together."

Bush described Blair as "very articulate" and admitted to coveting his oratory skills.

"I wish I was a better speaker. This guy can really... he can talk!," Bush said.

"We have very different speaking styles, of course. He's much more kind of lofty and eloquent than I am. I tend to be just pretty matter of fact."

    Bush hails "strong guy" Blair, rejects "poodle" talk, R, 27.6.2007, http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2721847520070627?src=062707_0919_TOPSTORY_a_new_era

9.30am

Bush praises Blair legacy

Wednesday June 27, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Matthew Weaver

Tony Blair was today given a glowing send-off by his controversial ally George Bush, who claimed history would judge the outgoing prime minister kindly.

In an interview with the Sun, the US president revealed he tried to "buck up" Mr Blair as the prime minister faced pressure over Iraq.

He also rejected as "silly ridicule" the view that Mr Blair was the president's poodle.

"He's bigger than that," Mr Bush said. "Somehow our relationship has been seen as Bush saying to Blair, 'Jump' and Blair saying, 'How high?'

"But that's just not the way it works. It's a relationship where we say, 'We're both going to jump together'."

On the day of his departure as prime minister and when he is expected to be confirmed as a new Middle East envoy, Mr Bush characterised his much-criticised friendship with Mr Blair as that of comrades in a war.

"We analyse the enemy the same way and found each other in the same foxhole," he said.

Mr Bush also paid tribute to his friend's speaking style, contrasting it with his own awkwardness with words.

"Tony's great skill, and I wish I had it, is that he's very articulate," he said.

"I wish I was a better speaker. This guy can really ... he can talk. He's much more kind of lofty and eloquent than I am. I tend to be just pretty matter of fact."

On Mr Blair's legacy, Mr Bush said: "Tony's had a great run and history will judge him kindly."

But he admitted: "As for the pressure he's been under at home over Iraq, I ask him about it, try to buck him up as friend ... 'Are you doing OK?' But the truth of the matter is each person carries their own burden."

In the interview, which was conducted at the White House last month, Mr Bush joked that he had urged Mr Blair to remain in power.

"I selfishly said to him, 'I hope you can stay out my term'," he said.

Mr Bush said the new occupant of Number 10, Gordon Brown, had defied stereotypes and "wasn't the image of the dour Scotsman at all" when he visited Washington.

"He was relaxed. It was a good meeting," he said.

    Bush praises Blair legacy, G, 27.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2112547,00.html

Blair exits British politics as new era begins with a Tory defection

· Outgoing PM to resign from parliament today
· Brown engineers first victory over Cameron

Wednesday June 27, 2007
Guardian
Patrick Wintour, political editor


A new political order in Britain will take shape this afternoon when Tony Blair flies to his Sedgefield constituency to resign from parliament with immediate effect, and Gordon Brown enters No 10 to prepare a shakeup of government which will see at least six ministers quit the cabinet.

Mr Brown's allies said the new ministerial line-up would be deliberately inclusive, and not settle scores with Mr Blair's supporters.

Mr Blair had planned to keep the decision to quit as an MP secret until after his 318th and final prime minister's questions at noon today. But news leaked that his local party was being called to an extraordinary meeting to be addressed tonight by Mr Blair.

One of Mr Blair's closest friends said: "Tony is already psychologically out the door of No 10, and on to new challenges." He "had no desire to hang around Westminster for two years waiting for votes aged 54", the friend added. He will spend the next four days in Chequers before moving to his London home, north of Hyde Park.

Two of his aides in No 10 are expected to join him in his new life as a Middle East envoy. If, as expected, the role is confirmed today, Mr Blair will resign as an MP, triggering a byelection which may take place as early as July. His departure from parliament means his earnings from the lecture circuit will be kept from the register of members' interests.

Mr Brown will go to see the Queen at 1.30pm today to be asked to form a government, still buoyed by his engineering of the defection to Labour of the pro-European Tory MP Quentin Davies.

The timing of the announcement yesterday and the criticism of David Cameron in Mr Davies's resignation letter secured maximum impact for Labour on the eve of Mr Brown's move into No 10.

The former Tory shadow cabinet member accused Mr Cameron of "cynicism, superficiality, unreality, and an apparent lack of convictions". He also derided his ideas on climate change and said Mr Cameron's foreign policy was a shambles. Mr Cameron tried to minimise the damage in his reply. "The big dividing line in British politics is between Labour's approach of top-down state control and the Conservative vision of pushing power outwards and downwards from central government, trusting people and sharing responsibility with them. You have made your choice and the British people will make theirs," he said.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Brown had charmed Mr Davies during five meetings. By noon on Monday, Mr Davies had decided to leave the Tories after 21 years largely because he could not abide the anti-Europeanism of Mr Cameron.

The satisfaction in the Brown camp was all the more intense after the failed attempt to reach out to a group of Liberal Democrats, including Lord Ashdown, and bring them into his government.

Mr Brown is planning to announce his reshuffle tomorrow, when his cabinet will meet for the first time. He is expected to appoint at least one businessman. It is thought John Hutton, the Blairite work and pensions secretary, will survive.

The culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, however, is hoping to remain in charge of the Olympics. Plans to hive off part of the Olympics to a construction department appear to have been shelved.

Mr Brown is also expected to appoint a number of Labour vice-chairmen under Harriet Harman, and has offered a post to leftwinger Jon Cruddas. He also has to decide whether to have a deputy prime minister or to give Jack Straw, his campaign manager, a chance to return to the Foreign Office. Ministers expected to leave are Hilary Armstrong, Lord Goldsmith, John Reid, John Prescott, Lord Falconer, Patricia Hewitt and Lady Amos.

    Blair exits British politics as new era begins with a Tory defection, G, 27.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2112340,00.html

Sketch

Hasta la vista, Tony

Wednesday June 27, 2007
Guardian
Simon Hoggart

It was The Terminator meets the terminated. Arnold Schwarzenegger paid his first visit to Downing Street, where he held talks about climate change with Tony Blair and business leaders. The two men held a joint press conference. It was full of weird moments.

Tony is almost the same height as Arnie, but Arnie has the bigger face. He has a simply enormous face. When he dies, they can embalm him and stick him straight on to Mt Rushmore. And it is topped with enough hair to stuff one of the famous Blair sofas.

Then there's the accent. You can't listen to him talk about climate change without seeing him waving a howitzer-sized gun about at various villains. He had, he growled, just gained five pounds from eating "a delicious Briddish breakfast".

Someone must have been sprinkling the sausages with fairy dust, because he seemed to think that Tony Blair had, almost single-handed, saved the planet. "He came to California at a criddical stage - [you can talk Arnie by substituting the letter D for T in the middle of words, and using G in place of the hard C] - and what was grade aboud it, was he invided Democrads and Republicans and thad way you can accomplish anything. He showed grade leadership, and the Briddish mardel has inspired everyone in California."

Really? Relaxing in Santa Barbara, cruising the freeways of LA, pruning vines in the wine country, do they speak only of Tony Blair and the Briddish mardel?

"You are rolling back emissions to the 1990 level, in Grade Briddain you're 9% or 10% below the 1990 level ..." Who told him that stuff?

Then it clicked. This was the Oscars. Anything less than glowing, gushing, demented praise for everyone within earshot is virtually an insult. They say that politics is show business for ugly people, though in the case of Mr Schwarzenegger, it may be the other way round too.

He felt that the Americans would have to clean up their act before asking for cuts from India and China, or, as he put it, "id's a chiggen and egg siduation". However, tegnology was going to save the day. "Clear green tegnology will be the new gold rush for California," he added.

We turned our star-struck gaze away to Tony Blair. He was busy not denying that he was going to the Middle East. "I haven't retired yet - this is the last press conference I'm giving to you guys - that's something I'm really going to miss!" (Sarcasm has suddenly become fashionable in politics.)

Someone asked if he had any advice for his successor. "No," he snapped. "He is perfectly capable of doing the job on his own." The word "Not!" hovered unspoken in the air.

Finally officials nudged him away. "My press officer said," he told us perkily, "whatever else you say this morning, don't say 'I'll be back!'"

And I won't use such a cliche either. So it's "hasta la vista, baby!" Or, a less well known Schwarzenegger film quote that might be useful in his new career: "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

    Hasta la vista, Tony, G, 27.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/backbench/story/0,,2112329,00.html

5.45pm

Blair to resign as MP tomorrow

Tuesday June 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Patrick Wintour, Haroon Siddique and agencies

Tony Blair will tomorrow quit as an MP as well as stepping down as Britain's prime minister.

Mr Blair is set to retire from British politics altogether and will fly to his Sedgefield constituency in the afternoon to announce his resignation from parliament with immediate effect.

The move will come as Gordon Brown finally grasps the reins at Number 10 Downing Street and prepares for a radical shake-up of the cabinet.

Mr Blair's local party will be gathered to hear his plan to quit politics to pursue his interests in Middle East peacemaking and inter-faith reconciliation.

Mr Brown will go to see the Queen around 1.30pm to be asked to form a government, buoyed by engineering the extraordinary defection to Labour of Quentin Davies, the pro-European Tory MP, who then delivered a devastating resignation letter to David Cameron accusing him of "superficiality, unreality, and an apparent lack of convictions".

Earlier today Mr Blair declared himself ready to do "whatever he can", to aid the Middle East peace process.

His words were the strongest indication so far that he will be charged with helping to bring about a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the special representative of the EU, UN, US and Russia - the so-called Quartet - once he steps down from power.

The Quartet is ready to appoint Mr Blair on the back of intensive lobbying from the US, despite scepticism in some quarters about how his appointment will be viewed by Palestinians.

In response to being asked whether he expects to be offered the post, Mr Blair said: "I think that anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential.

"As I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about."

While the outgoing prime minister looks towards life after No 10, his deputy, John Prescott, also has his eyes on a new job, sources claimed today.

Mr Prescott has apparently told Labour MPs he intends to stand as leader of the British delegation to the Council of Europe, which represents 47 countries, has a parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg with 636 members and includes among its aims protecting human rights.

Mr Prescott will need the backing of fellow MPs to replace the incumbent, Labour MP Tony Lloyd, who is understood to be standing down, but his new role would be likely to prove considerably less controversial than Mr Blair's.

The prime minister could face strong opposition from those in the Middle East who feel his copybook has been blotted by the invasion of Iraq, his close association with George Bush and his failure to call for a ceasefire during Israel's bombardment of Lebanon last summer.

The idea of Mr Blair doing this job is understood to have originated with the prime minister himself in conversation with Mr Bush, who then suggested it to the UN.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, is said to be a keen supporter and Washington was reported last night to have mounted "an enormous push" to ensure Mr Blair got the post.

Diplomats said there was some disquiet over the way US talks with Mr Blair were well advanced before any details were shared with the other Quartet partners.

Mr Blair has constantly pressed Mr Bush to take a more active role in securing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

Though his standing in the so-called Arab street may be low he is held in high regard by Arab political elites, and he has frequently spoken of his passion to play a part in helping to secure peace in the Middle East.

It was being stressed last night that Mr Blair's role - in the short term at least - would not be to act as a mediator between the Palestinians and the Israelis, or to become a negotiator for the road map to peace.

He might, however, be responsible for trying to persuade the Palestinians to accept the conditions for ending the international boycott of Hamas.

Diplomats familiar with the proposed mandate for Mr Blair said it did not differ in substance from that of his predecessor, James Wolfensohn, who left the job in April 2006. Mr Wolfensohn worked on issues such as galvanising international economic assistance to the Palestinians, economic development, governance, justice and human rights.

Mr Blair has repeatedly said the Middle East peace talks need to be micro-managed in the way that he handled the Northern Ireland peace process.

    Blair to resign as MP tomorrow, G, 26.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2111768,00.html

11am

Blair: I will do whatever I can for Middle East peace

Tuesday June 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Haroon Siddique and agencies


Tony Blair today declared himself ready to do "whatever he can", when asked whether his future after leaving No 10 will see him take up the mantle of Middle East peace envoy.

His words were the strongest indication so far that he will be charged with helping to bring about a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the special representative of the EU, UN, US and Russia - the so-called Quartet - once he steps down from power.

Reports suggest the Quartet is ready to appoint Mr Blair on the back of intensive lobbying from the US, despite scepticism in some quarters about how his appointment will be viewed by Palestinians.

In response to being asked whether he expects to be offered the post, Mr Blair said: "I think that anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential.

"As I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about."

While the outgoing prime minister looks towards life after No 10, his deputy, John Prescott, also has his eyes on a new job, sources claimed today.

Mr Prescott has apparently told Labour MPs he intends to stand as leader of the British delegation to the Council of Europe, which represents 47 countries, has a parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg with 636 members and includes among its aims protecting human rights.

Mr Prescott will need the backing of fellow MPs to replace the incumbent, Labour MP Tony Lloyd, who is understood to be standing down, but his new role would be likely to prove considerably less controversial than Mr Blair's.

The prime minister could face strong opposition from those in the Middle East who feel his copybook has been blotted by the invasion of Iraq, his close association with George Bush and his failure to call for a ceasefire during Israel's bombardment of Lebanon last summer.

The idea of Mr Blair doing this job is understood to have originated with the prime minister himself in conversation with Mr Bush, who then suggested it to the UN.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, is said to be a keen supporter and Washington was reported last night to have mounted "an enormous push" to ensure Mr Blair got the post.

Diplomats said there was some disquiet over the way US talks with Mr Blair were well advanced before any details were shared with the other Quartet partners.

Mr Blair has constantly pressed Mr Bush to take a more active role in securing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

Though his standing in the so-called Arab street may be low he is held in high regard by Arab political elites, and he has frequently spoken of his passion to play a part in helping to secure peace in the Middle East.

It was being stressed last night that Mr Blair's role - in the short term at least - would not be to act as a mediator between the Palestinians and the Israelis, or to become a negotiator for the road map to peace.

He might, however, be responsible for trying to persuade the Palestinians to accept the conditions for ending the international boycott of Hamas.

Diplomats familiar with the proposed mandate for Mr Blair said it did not differ in substance from that of his predecessor, James Wolfensohn, who left the job in April 2006.

Mr Wolfensohn worked on issues such as galvanising international economic assistance to the Palestinians, economic development, governance, justice and human rights.

Mr Blair has repeatedly said the Middle East peace talks need to be micro-managed in the way that he handled the Northern Ireland peace process.

    Blair: I will do whatever I can for Middle East peace, G, 26.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2111768,00.html

4.45pm update

Blair rejects call for EU referendum

Monday June 25, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent

Holding a referendum on the EU treaty would entail "sucking the energy out of the country for months", Tony Blair said today.

Making his final full statement as prime minister before retiring on Wednesday, the prime minister rejected outright Tory demands for a plebiscite on the weekend agreement.

In an unusual move, the prime minister was joined on the frontbench for the statement by the new Labour leader, Gordon Brown, who will have to pilot the bill through parliament this autumn.

Mr Blair repeated his principal reason for refusing to grant a referendum: that Britain's "red lines" had not been breached by the marathon negotiations, which only came to a close at 5am on Saturday morning.

But Mr Blair conceded that the 48-hour talks had comprised "an exceptionally difficult negotiation".

And he made his revealing comment on the political costs of a referendum when under pressure from the Tory leader, David Cameron.

Mr Cameron declared that the treaty agreed was simply a constitution "that dare not speak its name".

The Conservative leader said that Mr Blair had sanctioned the transfer of powers from Britain to Brussels "without the permission of the British people".

To loud Tory cheers, he added: "This will be remembered as one of the most flagrant breaches of any of the promises you have made."

The prime minister accused Mr Cameron of saying he was "too busy" to attend a meeting of Europe's centre-right parties held by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss the treaty.

Yet, Mr Blair added, Mr Cameron thought the treaty was so fundamentally important it would require a referendum that would "take months ... sucking energy out of the country for months".

The Tory argument is that Mr Blair agreed to a referendum on the constitution in 2005, and today's document is largely similar to that one.

With both positions well-rehearsed, the prime minister accused Mr Cameron of "going through the motions" by demanding a referendum.

And he pointed out that neither the Maastricht treaty nor the single European market treaty of 1986 had been put to a referendum by Tory governments.

Defending the deal achieved - which will still require a referendum at least in Ireland, if not in other EU states - Mr Blair insisted it was "quintessentially" in Britain's interests.

Amid noisy scenes in the Commons, he told MPs: "Over the past ten years Britain has moved from the margins of European debate to the centre. This is absolutely right for Britain."

And he added: "Britain has for a decade been in a leadership position in Europe. That is exactly where we should stay."

There is still some confusion over the treaty, with the Tories claiming Britain has given up a unilateral veto in over 60 areas and Mr Blair insisting it was nearer 40 - and many in largely technically or minor areas.

Mr Cameron accused him of signing up to a treaty "he'll never have to defend".

The Tory leader quoted the Irish foreign minister as saying that 90% of the original constitution - rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums - remained in the new amending treaty.

And he said that the power of veto would be given away in such crucial areas as transport and energy.

The prime minister insisted that a new two-and-a-half-year EU presidency was "necessary for efficiency" and that Britain's "opt-ins" in areas of crime and immigration allowed the UK to "pick and chose ... on a case-by-case basis".

Mr Blair said that the UK had secured a legally-binding protocol on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and extended opt-in rights on migration, asylum and immigration issues.

He also said that the UK's social security and benefits system was "completely protected" while the common foreign and security policy remained essentially unchanged.

    Blair rejects call for EU referendum, G, 25.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,2111188,00.html

Blair Meets With Pope in Farewell Visit

June 23, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:16 a.m. ET
The New York Times

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican on Saturday bid farewell to Tony Blair as British prime minister, wishing him well on what it said were his plans to work for Middle East peace and interreligious dialogue.

Blair held long talks with Pope Benedict XVI, with the Vatican stop on his farewell tour fueling rumors that he plans to convert to Catholicism. The two men met privately for 25 minutes and then were joined for further talks by English Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

A Vatican press office called the audience a normal meeting between the pope and a government leader. Blair leaves office on Wednesday.

The statement, issued after the talks with Benedict and a separate meeting with Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said there was a ''frank'' assessment of the international situation, including such ''delicate'' themes as the Middle East conflict and the future of the European Union.

The Vatican opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which Blair has supported.

The statement said that best wishes were expressed for Blair's future, saying that he has expressed the desire ''to dedicate himself in a particular way for peace in the Middle East and for interreligious dialogue.''

Earlier this week, it was suggested that President Bush, a close ally, wants Blair to take the job of Middle East envoy for the Quartet of peacemakers -- the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia. Downing Street has refused comment on the reports.

Greeted by Benedict, Blair explained that he had just arrived from an EU summit in Brussels.

''I heard it was very successful,'' Benedict said.

''Yes, we had a very long night. We finished up at 5:30 in the morning,'' Blair replied.

In an interview with The Times of London, Blair said Saturday the issue of his religious beliefs was complex and that he was nervous about discussing his faith with the pope.

''It's difficult with some of these things,'' Blair told the newspaper. ''Things aren't always as resolved as they might be.''

As for reports that Blair is on the verge of formally converting, a spokesman for the prime minister repeated the official line that ''he remains a member of the Church of England.''

Blair, his wife and children met Benedict in a private, hour-long audience a year ago. He also met with Pope John Paul II in 2003.

Blair's wife Cherie is Roman Catholic, the couple's children have attended Catholic schools and Blair habitually attends Catholic rather than Anglican services.

    Blair Meets With Pope in Farewell Visit, NYT, 23.6.2007, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Vatican-Blair.html?hp

After 30 years as a closet Catholic, Blair finally puts faith before politics

Outgoing PM seizes early opportunity to convert free of dilemmas of public role

Friday June 22, 2007
Guardian
Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent


His spiritual awakening goes back at least 30 years, to his time as an undergraduate at Oxford, but due to political considerations Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism has been a long time coming.
He has been attending Catholic mass, often with his family but also occasionally alone, since long before he became prime minister. His wife, Cherie, is a lifelong and practising Catholic, and in accordance with church rules their children have been brought up as Catholics and were sent to church schools.

More than 10 years ago Mr Blair was slipping into Westminster cathedral and occasionally taking communion, until the late Cardinal Basil Hume told him to stop because it was causing comment as he was not a Catholic - an injunction that bemused him at the time.

Since then he has regularly attended services conducted by Canon Timothy Russ, parish priest of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Great Missenden, the nearest Catholic church to Chequers.

He is also known to have had discussions with priests such as Father Timothy Radcliffe, former head of the worldwide Dominican order, now at Oxford, and with Father Michael Seed, who has shephered a number of high-profile figures, including Ann Widdecome and, allegedly, Alan Clark, towards conversion. Fr Seed, an engaging if indiscreet figure, has claimed to have paid regular backdoor visits to Downing Street to talk religion, if not necessarily to advise the prime minister.

So why has it taken so long? Almost certainly because of Mr Blair's sensitivity about the place of Catholicism in British public - and particularly its constitutional - life. The only positions specifically barred to Catholics are marriage to the sovereign or heir to the throne, or becoming sovereign themselves, a legacy of the Act of Settlement that followed the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the deposition of the last Catholic monarch, James II; there has never been a Catholic prime minister.

In the last 40 years Catholics have entered many senior positions in British public life, generally without comment except among the wilder fringes of Protestant Calvinism: in the civil service, the Foreign Office and industry, as MPs and ministers in Conservative and Labour cabinets. The current director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, is a Catholic and, briefly, four years ago, with Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Iain Duncan Smith, leader of the Tories, so were the alternative prime ministers.

But the motives of Catholic politicians have traditionally been regarded with suspicion by non-Catholics, both here and in the US, based on the allegation that they take their orders from the Vatican rather than the electorate. Catholic political leaders have always denied it - but the recent antics of some bishops in the US during the 2004 presidential campaign when they threatened to deny John Kerry communion because of his support for abortion rights and, recently, Cardinal Keith O'Brien's warning that he would do the same in Scotland, have tended to confirm old suspicions.

A number of potentially divisive moral issues would have been much more difficult if Mr Blair had been known to be a Catholic, even though his personal beliefs have not necessarily intruded into the government's decisions.

Ministers have enacted civil partnerships for gay couples and this year faced down demands, particularly from the Catholic church, for exemption from equality provisions enabling gay couples to adopt children, even though the prime minister favoured compromise.

Equally, the government has not attempted to limit abortion rights - an issue regarded as long settled in Britain except by some mainly Catholic groups - or pushed for reduced time limits, even though the church regards abortion as a sin. And it has permitted stem cell research without conceding to Catholic opposition.

Mr Blair, like President George Bush, ignored the condemnations and warnings of the Pope and all other church leaders over the war in Iraq.

He has been keen to expand the number of faith schools and church-supported academies, in the face of strong opposition from secular groups, but here again seemingly not for reasons of religious indoctrination but because of their parental popularity.

The criticism of Ruth Kelly when she was education secretary because of her membership of the lay sect Opus Dei - at a time when the novel The Da Vinci Code had made the group more widely known - also showed that the old prejudice could still be deployed. Mr Blair probably thought he could do without the extra hassle.

He has kept his personal religious views largely out of his political life. Ostentatious religiosity does not go down well in Britain. He dropped his wish to end a prime ministerial broadcast on the eve of the Iraq invasion with the words: "God bless" on the advice of Alastair Campbell, who famously told him "We don't do God".

Explainer: Becoming a Catholic

The path to purification

Converting to Catholicism is not a straightforward or easy process, as Tony Blair will have realised. It takes time - though how long depends on the candidate's readiness and aptitude - and is based on the church's assessment of their sincerity and commitment. The process is described in a 44-page document called the Rite of Christian Initiation.

When there was a rush of conversions from Anglicanism in the early 1990s, after the Church of England's decision to ordain women priests, there was considerable murmuring among lifelong Catholics that the conversion of defectors such as John Gummer and Ann Widdecombe had been too easily sanctioned by Cardinal Basil Hume, the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales.

That is unlikely to be the case with Mr Blair since his conversion is clearly the result of a long period of consideration and is not due to a particular grievance.

Adults wishing to convert undergo a period of doctrinal and spiritual preparation with a priestly adviser to become catechumens, preparing for admission to the church. They are no longer required to make an abjuration of previous heresy but they do make a profession of faith and belief that they "consciously and freely seek the living God and enter the way of faith and conversion as the Holy Spirit opens their hearts."

The rite says candidates are to receive help and attention, so that "with a purified and clearer intention they may cooperate with God's grace."

The process takes several stages of indeterminate duration: after the period of evangelisation there follows acceptance into the order of catechumens, then election, when the church ratifies candidates' readiness. A "period of purification and enlightenment" follows, usually on the eve of Easter, followed by the sacraments of initiation and then catechesis as the candidates are allowed to participate fully in the sacraments, such as communion.

Although conversions usually take place during the Easter period and in public ceremonies, this need not necessarily be the case if there are special circumstances - which the church could probably find for a former prime minister.

    After 30 years as a closet Catholic, Blair finally puts faith before politics, G, 23.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2108865,00.html

Blair Chairs His Last Cabinet Meeting

June 21, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:44 a.m. ET
The New York Times

LONDON (AP) -- Outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged ''unswerving support'' for his successor at an emotional last meeting of his Cabinet on Thursday, and he said he was leaving at the right time. The session ended with a standing ovation.

Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who will take over as prime minister next week, in turn paid tribute to Blair -- with whom he has had a sometimes fractious relationship.

''Whatever we achieve in the future will be because we are standing on your shoulders,'' Brown said.

Blair's official spokesman described it as ''an event I'd never seen before. At the end of Cabinet, the prime minister was given a standing ovation by his colleagues. The only way to bring the standing ovation to a close was to leave the room.''

For many of the lawmakers in the Cabinet room, this was also their last meeting: Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Home Secretary John Reid and Cabinet Office Minister Hilary Armstrong are all stepping down. Brown will be appointing his own Cabinet, which will likely see a change of faces around the antique table.

According to the official spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, the meeting lasted about an hour -- with the tributes to Blair taking up half the time.

Blair was presented with a painting of Chequers, the traditional country residence of British prime ministers, as a going-away present.

Lawmakers paid tribute to Blair for his achievements in both foreign and domestic policy. Both Iraq and Afghanistan were mentioned, the spokesman said, and Blair's colleagues praised him for making those ''difficult decisions.''

Blair spoke at the end of the meeting, and thanked his staff, the civil service and his colleagues for their support during his decade at Downing Street.

''Of Gordon Brown, the prime minister said he had the qualities to make a great prime minister, and he said he would have his 'unswerving support,''' the spokesman said. ''He finished by saying 'This is the right moment to go.'''

He was then asked if any of the Cabinet members banged their hands on the table in appreciation.

''Applause. I think people have due regard to the age of the Cabinet table,'' he said.

Blair announced he would step down on June 27 after more than 10 years in office, and the past month has been littered with his last appearance at various annual events. In early June, Blair attended his last Group of Eight summit, and this weekend's European Union summit will be his final international appearance as prime minister.

Blair's life after Downing Street has been a matter of speculation. Earlier this week, it was suggested that President Bush, a close ally, wants Blair to take the job of Middle East envoy for the Quartet of peacemakers -- the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia. Downing Street has refused comment on the reports.

Blair's spokesman said the final Cabinet meeting for Blair was warm, ''but there was some sadness. It was a moment of good humor and very warm affection.''

    Blair Chairs His Last Cabinet Meeting, NYT, 21.6.2007, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Blair.html

Iraq was on course until 2003 UN bombing, says Blair

Tuesday June 19, 2007
Guardian
Patrick Wintour, political editor

Tony Blair yesterday warned the west not to lose the will to win the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as he hit back at those who claim the Iraq war has gone wrong because of a lack of planning.

The prime minister said the real turning point in Iraq came on August 19 2003, when 23 people - including the UN representative, Sergio de Mello - were murdered when the UN building in Baghdad was blown up by a truck bomb.

Mr Blair told the Commons liaison committee in his 11th and last evidence session: "I thought in July 2003 we had removed a terrible dictator, we had got in place a UN process of democracy and we were going to have an elected government.

"What happened in August 2003? They murdered the UN special representative and his staff by blowing up the UN headquarters. At that moment we had a fundamental decision to make as an international community - did we say 'we are not going to let you succeed' or did we say 'this is going to be really difficult'? "

Mr Blair's reference to the international community will be interpreted by some as an implicit criticism of other Nato countries which still refused to become involved in Iraq following the attack on the UN. Number 10, however, suggested it was a reference to the coalition.

Amid repeated suggestions from MPs that his premiership had been ruined by his misjudgment over Iraq, the prime minister betrayed his fear that the country was losing the political will for the long haul. "We cannot be in a situation where the harder they fight us, the less our will is to succeed, and if we are not careful we will be in that situation," he said. "It is so comforting to say that there was an error in the planning - someone did not spot what was going to go on. In reality, that is not what has created the problem, the people we were fighting have decided to get us a problem."

Mr Blair also defended the export of democracy to the Middle East. "Please do not believe that the ordinary Arab does not want democracy or freedom in the way we do," he said. "What country has ever chosen not to be a democracy - it is nonsense. It is what oppressors do to justify their oppression. They say democracy and freedom are western values. It is rubbish. They are universal values of the human spirit and they always will be."

Mr Blair went on to disclose the limits of prime ministerial authority by revealing that he was personally opposed to three recent planks of government policy: a partly elected second chamber; elected regional assemblies; and a referendum on the proposed European constitution. He said he expected to see directly elected mayors in most of Britain's major cities within 10 years, a view he shares with David Cameron.

The prime minister revealed he personally supported a fully appointed second chamber, even though he had voted in a free vote for a half-appointed, half-elected second chamber only a few months ago. He had done so to support the efforts of the leader of the house, Jack Straw, to find a cross-party consensus.

He also revealed he did not agree with the lord chief justice that the development of a ministry of justice represented a constitutional change which altered the independence of the judiciary.

    Iraq was on course until 2003 UN bombing, says Blair, G, 19.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2106175,00.html

1.45pm update

Blair sets out red lines on EU constitution

Monday June 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Matthew Tempest and agencies

Tony Blair has set out Britain's red lines for accepting or rejecting a new EU constitution, as the UK looked more likely to be isolated at this week's crunch Brussels summit.

Last night the French and Spanish government appeared to be in agreement that they would press for a new charter of fundamental rights and more majority voting - both of which the UK opposes.

Today Mr Blair set out four no-go zones for negotiations on which he insisted he would not compromise.

He said they were the fundamental charter of rights, foreign policy, common law, and tax and benefits - putting Britain on a collision course with the German presidency of the EU, and the agreement by France and Spain last night.

Mr Blair told a panel of MPs this morning, in his swansong grilling by the liaison committee: "If people want an agreement this week we've got to go back to a conventional amending treaty.

"Europe needs to work more effectively," he told the chairs of MPs' select committees.

"What is does not need is a constitutional treaty, or a treaty 'with the characteristics of a constitution', to put it in the words the Dutch have used.

"In my view we should be very clear about this, and this gives me an opportunity to make this absolutely clear, here and also to our European colleagues.

"First we will not accept a treaty that allows the charter of fundamental rights to change UK law in any way.

"Second, we will not agree to something that displaces the role of British foreign policy and our foreign minister.

"Thirdly, we will not agree to give up our ability to control our common law and judicial and police system.

"And fourthly, we will not agree to anything that moves to qualified-majority voting, something that can have a big say in our own tax and benefits system.

"Those are four major changes, obviously, in what was agreed before and that is the position we will set out and if people want an agreement I'm afraid we are going to have to agree on that."

Mr Blair argued that any such agreement would not require a referendum to validate it - as he promised when the constitution was last on the table, two years ago.

He said: "If we achieve those four objectives, I defy people to say what it is that is supposed to be so fundamental it would require a referendum.

However, it will be for incoming the prime minister, Gordon Brown, to deal with the aftermath of the summit next week. The Brussels meeting takes place this Thursday and Friday, while Mr Brown takes over as PM next Wednesday.

Mr Blair pointed to the elections of Nicolas Sarkozy in France, Angela Merkel in Germany and José Manuel Barroso as president of the European commission as evidence that the EU was coming round to Britain's way of thinking.

Last night, at a pre-summit dinner of foreign ministers in Luxembourg, France and Spain agreed to push for more majority voting and moves to turn the EU into a "single legal personality", effectively giving it greater clout on the world stage.

The UK, along with Poland, now looks set to be negotiating against the consensus position when the Brussels summit begins on Thursday.

Both France and the Netherlands rejected the original constitution in referendums in 2005, killing the treaty off at the time.

It has now been revived under Ms Merkel, who is keen to see speedier decision-making now that the EU has expanded from 15 to 27 members.

But the surprising new alliance - between a country which voted no (France) and a country which ratified the constitution (Spain) increases the pressure on Britain at Mr Blair's final European summit.

Poland, meanwhile, is objecting to a reduction in its new voting rights, and may also torpedo any deal.

Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, insisted Britain would stand firm on its so-called "red lines" at the negotiations, but the French and Spanish foreign ministers agreed to argue for the legally-binding charter of fundamental rights, majority voting on 51 policy areas and the single legal personality concept.

The French and Dutch foreign ministers emphasised the validity of their joint stand by pointing out that the alliance was forged by opposites, arguing: "These are views being put forward by a country which said yes to the original constitution, and a country which said no."

Before flying to Luxembourg for the dinner Mrs Beckett admitted the summit negotiations on the constitution's replacement would be "nerve-racking".

And Geoff Hoon, the Europe minister, refused to rule out the need for a referendum in Britain if the constitution's original contents could not be sufficiently watered down.

Mr Blair had promised a referendum on the original treaty, but this was indefinitely postponed in the wake of the French and Dutch no votes. The Conservatives, who opposed the constitution, are pressing for a referendum no matter how watered down the new version of a treaty becomes.

    Blair sets out red lines on EU constitution, NYT, 18.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,2105648,00.html

Blair knew US had no post-war plan for Iraq

· PM committed troops despite chaos fears
· Bush 'offered to fight without UK'

Sunday June 17, 2007
The Observer
Nicholas Watt, political editor


Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country.

In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war, which comes as Blair enters his final full week in Downing Street, key No 10 aides and friends of Blair have revealed the Prime Minister repeatedly and unsuccessfully raised his concerns with the White House.

He also agreed to commit troops to the conflict even though President George Bush had personally said Britain could help 'some other way'.

The disclosures, in a two-part Channel 4 documentary about Blair's decade in Downing Street, will raise questions about Blair's public assurances at the time of the war in 2003 that he was satisfied with the post-war planning. In one of the most significant interviews in the programme, Peter Mandelson says that the Prime Minister knew the preparations were inadequate but said he was powerless to do more.

'Obviously more attention should have been paid to what happened after, to the planning and what we would do once Saddam had been toppled,' Mandelson tells The Observer's chief political commentator, Andrew Rawnsley, who presents the documentary.

'But I remember him saying at the time: "Look, you know, I can't do everything. That's chiefly America's responsibility, not ours."' Mandelson then criticises his friend: 'Well, I'm afraid that, as we now see, wasn't good enough.'.

Opponents of the war, who have long claimed that the Pentagon planned a short, sharp offensive to overthrow Saddam Hussein with little thought of the consequences, claimed last night that the programme vindicated their criticisms. Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, told The Observer: 'These frank admissions that the Prime Minister was aware of the inadequacies of the preparations for post-conflict Iraq are a devastating indictment.'

Blair's most senior foreign affairs adviser at the time of the war makes clear that Blair was 'exercised' on the exact issue raised by the war's opponents. Sir David Manning, now Britain's ambassador to Washington, says: 'It's hard to know exactly what happened over the post-war planning. I can only say that I remember the PM raising this many months before the war began. He was very exercised about it.'

Manning reveals that Blair was so concerned that he sent him to Washington in March 2002, a full year before the invasion. Manning recalls: 'The difficulties the Prime Minister had in mind were particularly, how difficult was this operation going to be? If they did decide to intervene, what would it be like on the ground? How would you do it? What would the reaction be if you did it, what would happen on the morning after?

'All these issues needed to be thrashed out. It wasn't to say that they weren't thinking about them, but I didn't see the evidence at that stage that these things had been thoroughly rehearsed and thoroughly thought through.'

On his return to London, Manning wrote a highly-critical secret memo to Blair. 'I think there is a real risk that the [Bush] administration underestimates the difficulties,' it said. 'They may agree that failure isn't an option, but this does not mean that they will avoid it.'

Within a year Britain lost any hope of a proper reconstruction in Iraq when post-war planning was handed to the Pentagon at the beginning of 2003.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's envoy to the postwar administration in Baghdad, confirms that Blair was in despair. 'There were moments of throwing his hands in the air: "What can we do?" He was tearing his hair over some of the deficiencies.' The failure to prepare meant that Iraq quickly fell apart. Greenstock adds: 'I just felt it was slipping away from us really, from the beginning. There was no security force controlling the streets. There was no police force to speak of.'

The revelation that Blair was 'exercised' in private will raise questions about his public assurances. The former Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, told the programme he was given a personal assurance by Blair that he was satisfied by the preparations. 'I said to Tony, are you certain?' Kinnock told the programme. 'And when he said: "I'm sure," that was a good enough reassurance.'

Condoleezza Rice, then Bush's national security adviser, confirms that the President offered Blair a way out. Bush told Blair: 'Perhaps there's some other way that Britain can be involved.' Blair replied: 'No, I'm with you.'

· The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair will be screened on Channel 4 next Saturday.

    Blair knew US had no post-war plan for Iraq, O, 17.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2104989,00.html

Iraq is not just Blair's dark legacy: it defines the future

My interviews with key figures reveal a Prime Minister scared before the war,
then in despair over America's colossal blunders

Sunday June 17, 2007
The Observer
Andrew Rawnsley

When they open up Tony Blair, they will find Iraq engraved on his heart. But for Iraq he would be leaving Downing Street able to make an unambiguous claim to be one of the most successful world leaders of his time and one of the most successful British Prime Ministers of all time. But for Iraq, he would probably not be leaving Number 10 at all in 10 days' time.

For the past year, I've been interviewing key players in that decision and many others for a three-hour series for Channel 4 about Blair's decade in Downing Street. My witnesses to history are senior members of the cabinet, his closest aides at No 10, civil servants, generals, diplomats and crucial players from abroad such as Condi Rice, the US Secretary of State, and Andy Card, Chief of Staff to George Bush. These are the people who can really tell us what went on inside government because they were really there when the critical decisions were made. There is much more to both this government and this series than Iraq, but neither friend nor foe of Blair disputes that it was the single most significant act of his period in power.

Iraq is the turning point on which his premiership has pivoted. Before Iraq, he had been the most popular occupant of No 10 of all time; after Iraq, he was the most distrusted British leader of all time. The war and its blistering afterburn destroyed his credibility and bled away confidence in the government as a whole. Though he won a third general election, it was on a greatly reduced share of the vote. Victory tasted like defeat and helped to propel him out of Downing Street earlier than he wanted.

Worse for his legacy, and for the world, Iraq has wreaked terrible damage on the cause of liberal interventionism, for which Blair became such a compelling and passionate advocate during the Kosovo conflict. In the Balkans, he found a moral purpose for his premiership that he then amplified as a vision of a world in which states would not be free to slaughter their own citizens with impunity. In the killing grounds of Iraq, that ideal lies bleeding to death.

One thing that has struck me during the making of this series is that it is some of Blair's closest allies who are most accusatory about the calamity of Iraq. It is the loyal who feel most betrayed.

It's now often forgotten that the conventional war was won swiftly and with deceptive ease. There was too much euphoria in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam, too much delusion that this meant that the job was essentially done. As General Charles Guthrie, former head of the armed forces, puts it: 'Everybody knew that the coalition were going to win the initial battle. But then what?'

Blair himself had repeatedly asked that question during the build-up to the war and with mounting anxiety. A significant witness is Sir David Manning who was his most senior adviser on foreign affairs in No 10 and then became, as he still is, British ambassador in Washington. According to Manning, who speaks on camera for the first time for this series, Blair was extremely exercised that the Americans did not have a clue what they would do after the removal of Saddam. Twelve months before the invasion, he sent Manning to Washington to press his concerns on the White House. On Manning's important account: 'The difficulties the Prime Minister had in mind were, "How do you do it, what would be the reaction if you did it, what would happen on the morning after?"' Blair was deeply concerned that the American plans had not been 'thoroughly rehearsed and thoroughly thought through'.

This tells us that it was very early on that Blair was preparing to send British forces into Iraq. Whatever he was saying in public at this time, he was working on the basis that there would be a war a full year before the invasion. It also tells us that he was prescient enough to identify the danger that the Americans would make a catastrophic mess of the aftermath. And it highlights his own failure to translate that anxiety into effective action to ensure that there was a plan for post-Saddam Iraq.

Having committed himself to war, Blair did not like to hear prophecies that echoed his own secret fears. Very shortly before the war, in early 2003, there was an Anglo-French summit. Over lunch, Jacques Chirac warned the Prime Minister that he knew what to expect because the French President had been a young soldier in Algeria. Sir Stephen Wall, a former ambassador and one of Blair's senior advisers, was privy to this conversation. He recalls Chirac telling Blair that there would be a civil war in Iraq. 'We came out and Tony Blair rolled his eyes and said, "Poor old Jacques, he doesn't get it, does he?"' Wall remarks: 'We now know Jacques "got it" rather better than we did.'

When Peter Mandelson talked over these fears with him, Blair pleaded powerlessness. According to Mandelson: 'I remember him saying at the time, "Look, you know, I can't do everything. That's chiefly America's responsibility, not ours." As Mandelson damningly observes: 'I'm afraid that, as we now see, wasn't good enough.' Et tu, Peter?

He is, of course, right. It was not good enough to commit Britain to the American invasion of Iraq without being certain that the White House had a proper plan. It was even worse to join the war knowing that the White House didn't.

Of all the many mistakes made in Iraq, this is the most critical. To my mind, it's more important than the failed diplomacy before the war or the mis-selling of intelligence in those dodgy dossiers. The gravest of the misjudgments made by Blair was to go to war with the Americans even though he himself feared that they did not know what they would do once they got to Baghdad.

Iraq was almost certainly lost in the first 100 days after the invasion. Everything that has followed over the grisly years since has been a forlorn attempt to recover from the series of atrocious errors made in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. Richard Haass, who was a senior member of the American State Department, puts it this way: 'When you first win a battlefield victory, there's several weeks where you have an aura of invincibility, where you've got to lock it down, you've got to get it right. That's when the moment was lost.'

It was at this critical point that Blair most needed to make his voice heard in the White House. He failed as the Americans made a series of colossal blunders. The abolition of the Iraqi army put tens of thousands of aggrieved and armed young men on to the streets. The failure to seal the borders and to secure order in the cities allowed Iraq to descend into a hellish combination of terrorist insurgency and sectarian violence. Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who was persuaded by Blair to become his special envoy in Baghdad, depicts a Prime Minister plunged into despair by the ensuing carnage and chaos. He tells us that Blair would cry: 'What on earth are the Americans up to?' as Iraq descended into carnage. 'There were moments of throwing his hands in the air, "What can we do?" He was tearing his hair.'

Blair's despair became so profound that, according to Mandelson, he was ready 'to walk away from it all'. In the spring of 2004, he came extremely close to resigning as Prime Minister.

Blair invested a huge amount of his faith in his capacity to influence the President. He discovered too late that Bush was only nominally the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraq enterprise. A stark picture emerges of Bush making promises and giving assurances to Blair which were not delivered because Iraq was being run by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, neither of whom was very interested in listening to their junior British ally.

The rest is history. Except that it is not just history. It is also, sadly, the future. Iraq is a tragedy not just because of the dreadful suffering that has engulfed that country. It is also a tragedy because the cause of liberal interventionism has been so badly torched in the ashes of Baghdad.

Calamities of this order shape foreign policy for a generation. It is now much less likely that future Prime Ministers, US Presidents or other leaders will make a muscular response to rogue and tyrannical regimes that kill their own citizens or menace their neighbours. A generation of political leadership will be haunted by the fear of being sucked into another Iraq. Even where there is a compelling case for intervention, you cannot see Gordon Brown or David Cameron daring to embark on military action in the unlikely event that any of George Bush's successors in the White House will want to anyway.

The casualties of war are to be found not just in Iraq. The deaths will also be counted in Darfur and future Darfurs, Rwandas and Bosnias, where murderous regimes will put people to the slaughter with much less to fear from western intervention. That is the most rending victim of Iraq.

· 'The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair', written and presented by Andrew Rawnsley, begins on Channel 4 at 7pm on Saturday.

    Iraq is not just Blair's dark legacy: it defines the future, O, 17.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2104881,00.html

2pm

Blair: Blame me for BAE

Wednesday June 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Mark Oliver and Matthew Tempest


Tony Blair said today that he accepted responsibility for the BAE affair, and refused to implicate other ministers.

After being asked at prime minister's questions about the £43bn arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia by the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, Mr Blair said: "If you want to blame anyone for this, blame me. I am perfectly happy to take responsibility for it."

Sir Menzies had asked which minister was responsible for withholding information from the world's anti-corruption watchdog, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, about secret payments to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia. The Guardian has disclosed that the prince received payments totalling more than £1bn to secure the al-Yamamah deal.

But Mr Blair would not name any ministers. He repeated the government's defence of the attorney general's move in December last year to drop the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the affair.

Such an investigation would take years, damage the national interest and cost thousands of jobs, Mr Blair said.

"Whatever happened to Robin Cook's ethical foreign policy?" asked Sir Menzies.

"It's cloud-cuckoo-land ... the natural habitat of the Liberal Democrats," said Mr Blair, referring to the idea that such an investigation could have taken place without damaging the national interest.

Mr Blair also said criticisms of the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, in relation to the investigation into the alleged payments to the prince were "unfair and wrong".

The Guardian has claimed that British investigators were ordered by Lord Goldsmith to conceal from the OECD the existence of the payments - the attorney general has denied this claim. Robert Wardle, head of the SFO, has since said he made the decision.

The paper has also disclosed that payments had been made to the prince over Britain's biggest arms deal with full knowledge of the Ministry of Defence. Earlier this week, BBC Panorama went further, alleging that the MoD directly administered the payments to the prince.

Yesterday, Des Browne, the defence secretary, refused to say whether payments allegedly processed by MoD officials and wired to an American bank via BAE were still continuing.

The arms company does not dispute making the payments, which it says were with the "express approval" of the MoD. Prince Bandar has denied any impropriety.

Sir Menzies has taken a leading role in criticising the government's attempts to block scrutiny of the deal.

Yesterday he said: "We need a full investigation to determine whether the Ministry of Defence has been directly involved in processing payments to Prince Bandar.

"The department's failure to clarify this issue is unacceptable. We need to know whether any payments took place after 2002 and whether they breached anti-corruption legislation."

The first sales involved in the al-Yamamah deal began in 1985, and the most recent contract involving dozens of Typhoon fighter jets was signed last year.

    Blair: Blame me for BAE, G, 13.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2102023,00.html

Blair: media is feral beast obsessed with impact

Wednesday June 13, 2007
Guardian
Patrick Wintour, political editor

British newspapers will and should be subject to some form of new external regulation, the outgoing prime minister, Tony Blair, said yesterday in a broadside that attacked the media for behaving like feral beasts and eschewing balance or proportion.

In a sweeping critique of the industry, Mr Blair claimed newspapers, locked into an increasingly bitter sales war in a 24-hour news environment, indulged in "impact journalism" in which truth and balance had become secondary to the desire for stories to boost sales and be taken up by other media outlets.

He admitted that his own attempts to bypass traditional media through websites and press conferences had been "to no avail". He also conceded that he was partly to blame for the predicament, saying his determination to convey the Labour message in the period of opposition and early years in government had made him complicit in the decline in news standards.

But he said the fierce competition for stories had led to the media now hunting in a pack. "In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits, but no one dares miss out."

He added that distinctions between comment and news had become so blurred that it was rare to find newspapers reporting precisely what a politician was saying. It was incredibly frustrating, he said, adding that politicians had to act immediately to rebut false charges before they became fact.

Mr Blair said he was describing "something few people in public life will say, but most know is absolutely true: a vast aspect of our jobs today - outside of the really major decisions, as big as anything else - is coping with the media, its sheer scale, weight and constant hyperactivity. At points, it literally overwhelms."

The damage that can be done "saps the country's confidence and self-belief", he said. "It undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions and above all, it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our future."

The consequence was a fall in morale in the public services, a loss of trust between politicians and media and even a climate of fear in which those in public life dare not attack the media's sensationalist culture for fear for the media's counterblast.

In a world of 24-hour news and huge diversity of outlets, he said, it is impact that gives a competitive edge. "Of course the accuracy of a story counts. But it is secondary to impact. It is this necessary devotion to impact that is unravelling standards, driving them down, making the diversity of the media not the strength it should be but an impulsion towards sensation above all else."

"News is rarely news unless it generates heat as much as or more than light. Second, attacking motive is far more potent than attacking judgement. It is not enough for someone to make an error. It has to be venal. Conspiratorial."

Moving on to the regulation of newspapers, Mr Blair said changes were inevitable: "As the technology blurs the distinction between papers and television, it becomes increasingly irrational to have different systems of accountability based on technology that no longer can be differentiated in the old way."

He also questioned whether papers needed some system of accountability that went beyond sales. He said: "The reality is that the viewers or readers have no objective yardstick to measure what they are being told. In every other walk of life in our society that exercises power, there are external forms of accountability, not least through the media itself.

The prime minister's aides admitted he had thought long and hard before making the speech, but felt free to do so now that he was, in his own words, leaving office "still standing". Ministers conceded privately that the regulatory structure of newspapers may change over the next decade, but did not believe it would lead to direct regulation. "It is possible we could end up with a kitemark that websites pass certain tests, but it is a long way away," said one minister.

There is also ministerial and industry scepticism that EU legislation and the convergence of newspapers and broadcasting would see a single regulatory structure for newspapers and TV.

The coming EU legislation is likely to make the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, responsible for regulating the internet, but is likely to leave unregulated the content of newspapers on the website.

    Blair: media is feral beast obsessed with impact, G, 13.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2101536,00.html

1.45pm update

Blair rejects calls for fresh BAE inquiry

Thursday June 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Mark Tran

An investigation into a £43bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia would have wrecked a vital British interest, Tony Blair said today, as he fended off fresh calls for an inquiry.

In response to a new investigation by the Guardian, the prime minister was again forced to defend a decision last year to stop a Serious Fraud Office inquiry into the al-Yamamah arms deal involving the arms company BAE Systems.

The paper revealed allegations that BAE Systems secretly paid Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia more than £1bn in connection with Britain's biggest ever weapons contract.

But Mr Blair, speaking at the G8 summit in Germany, said any investigation would have damaged the national interest.

As the US president, George Bush, quipped that he was glad he didn't have to answer questions on the issue, the prime minister told reporters: "This investigation, if it had gone ahead, would have involved the most serious allegations and investigation being made of the Saudi royal family and my job is to give advice as to whether that is a sensible thing in circumstances where I don't believe the investigation would have led anywhere except to the complete wreckage of a vital interest to our country."

Mr Blair said the fight against terrorism would have been harmed and thousands of jobs would have been lost.

While Mr Blair strongly defended the decision by the attorney general Lord Goldsmith to drop the SFO investigation, the chancellor, Gordon Brown, signalled his support for new controls on arms sales.

Speaking last night at a Labour leadership hustings in London, Mr Brown, who is set to take over as prime minister at the end of the month, said: "I hope we will be able to do more on arms sales in the next period."

Opposition demands for an inquiry into the deal were also being taken up by some Labour MPs.

Roger Berry, the Labour MP who chairs the commons quadripartite committee that covers arms deals, said the latest allegations must now be properly investigated.

He said that if there were evidence of bribery or corruption in arms deals since new laws were introduced in 2001, then it would be a criminal offence.

"These matters need to be properly investigated," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. "It's bad for British business, apart from anything else, if allegations of bribery popping around aren't investigated."

The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, said Mr Blair had accepted responsibility for ending the SFO inquiry.

"I think that we need some sort of statement from the prime minister on this," Sir Menzies said.

The Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, yesterday said that if ministers in either the present or previous governments were involved there should be a "major parliamentary inquiry".

"It seems to me very clear that this issue has got to be re-opened," Mr Cable said. "It is one thing for a company to have engaged in alleged corruption overseas. It is another thing if British government ministers have approved it. We need to find out which ministers are involved. This may well involve a major public inquiry."

As its dealings with Saudi Arabia again made front page news, BAE Systems said: "The al-Yamamah programme is a government-to-government agreement and all such payments made under those agreements were made with the express approval of both the Saudi and the UK governments."

The company said that it would abide by confidentiality obligations imposed by the agreement.

"All the information regarding the al-Yamamah contract in our possession has been made available to the Serious Fraud Office over the last two and a half years and, after an exhaustive investigation, it was concluded, over and above the interests of national security, that there was and is no case to answer," BAE said.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement: "The MoD is unable to comment on these allegations since to do so would involve disclosing confidential information about al-Yamamah and that would cause the damage that ending the investigation was designed to prevent."

The Guardian reported that an inquiry by the SFO into the transactions behind the £43bn arms deal is understood to have uncovered details of the alleged payments to Prince Bandar, one of the most powerful members of the Saudi ruling clan.

The payments were allegedly channelled through a US bank in Washington controlled by Prince Bandar, a key figure in the al-Yamamah oil-for-arms deals between the UK and Saudi Arabia. Starting in 1985 under the Thatcher government, the contracts generated billions of pounds a year in revenue for Britain.

    Blair rejects calls for fresh BAE inquiry, NYT, 7.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2097448,00.html

3.15pm

Blair warns Putin over business ties

Wednesday June 6, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent

Tony Blair today warned that Europe could start cutting business ties with Russia if Vladimir Putin abandons "shared values" - as the increasingly bitter war of words between the west and Russia threatens to overshadow the G8 summit.

Speaking before flying out to Germany for the opening reception of the conference, the prime minister made his most direct criticism yet about President Putin's threat to retarget Russian missiles at European capitals in response to US plans to deploy a missile shield in eastern Europe.

Mr Blair cautioned against making "hollow threats" against Russia, but pointedly added that if Mr Putin abandoned "shared values" business links would be jeapordised.

He told MPs: "I have good relations with President Putin. We want good relations with Russia.

"But that can only be done on the basis that there are certain shared principles and shared values.

"The consequence if there aren't - there is no point in making hollow threats against Russia - is that people in Europe will want to minimise the business they do with Russia if that happens.

"I personally think a close relationship between Europe and Russia is important but it will only be a sustainable relationship if it is based on those shared values."

In addition to the row over missile systems, Russia is refusing to extradite to the UK the chief suspect in the murder in London of Alexander Litvinenko last year.

Russia has also been engaged in a unilateral trade war with Poland - contrary to EU rules - and has repeatedly threatened to cut energy supplies to countries in eastern Europe.

Mr Putin is due to engage in one-to-one talks with both Mr Blair and the US president George Bush during this week's G8 meeting in Heilingendamm.

In a BBC interview earlier today, Mr Blair pledged to seek a "frank conversation" with Mr Putin over his increasingly fractious relations with the west.

That stance was echoed in interviews yesterday by the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who said he intended to be "frank" with Mr Putin.

Mr Bush yesterday sought to calm the row with Mr Putin by inviting Moscow to cooperate in the project. So far Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to host US missile interceptor sites, despite domestic opposition.

Mr Blair is attending his last G8 as prime minister before stepping down later this month.

    Blair warns Putin over business ties, G, 6.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/g8/story/0,,2096859,00.html

I can persuade George Bush on climate change - Blair

· Exclusive interview with PM on eve of G8 summit
· Claim that US will agree to greenhouse gas target

Wednesday June 6, 2007
Guardian
Patrick Wintour and Larry Elliott

Tony Blair insisted yesterday that he could persuade President Bush to agree for the first time to a global target for a "substantial cut" in greenhouse gases within a framework sanctioned by the United Nations.

In an interview with the Guardian on the eve of the G8 summit, the prime minister said both elusive goals were now achievable and that America was "on the move" in its position on climate change.

Although Mr Blair said it would take tough negotiations over the next three days and it was still unclear exactly what the president would agree to, he was sure Mr Bush's speech last week, in which he talked about establishing a US-led initiative to tackle global warming, was not a ploy to undermine the UN or the G8.

" I think the announcement by President Bush last week was significant and important, and it is absurd to say otherwise, since it moved things on. On the other hand you then need to flesh out what it means." He stressed that any agreement reached between the G8 and the five leading developing countries would have to be sanctioned by the entire United Nations.

Contemplating leaving the summit without a deal, or at least the framework for one, he acknowledged: "Failure is if there is not an agreement that leads to a global deal with substantial reduction in emissions at the heart of it."

On the eve of his final, and potentially most important, G8 summit, Mr Blair said he wanted Friday's final communique to contain a commitment to a 50% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 on 1990 levels.

The prime minister said he had been working closely with Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, and President Bush to secure agreement. But his officials admitted the leaders were expecting negotiations in Heiligendamm - over aid to Africa as well as climate change - to carry on until the end of the summit.

"The key elements of this [deal] are an acceptance that the climate is changing in a dangerous way as a result of human activity, secondly we need a global agreement that includes all the main players, including China and America, and at the heart of that there has to be a global target for a substantial cut in emissions. I believe it is possible to get all that way."

Mr Blair added: "You could have a situation where this is agreed at the G8 - which is my preference - or you could see how it is agreed in principle, but you have to work out the details of it later. The important thing is that if we get an agreement to the idea of a global target of a substantial reduction in emissions, and it needs to be clear that it is in the order of 50%. You are not talking about 20%.

"The important point is I will be going for the maximum and I will want more."

Speaking of his experience over three years to get an international agreement on climate change, he said: "The Americans do want to know that China and India are in the deal.

"There are two political realities. One is that America will not sign up to a global deal unless China is in it and the second is that China will not sign up to a deal that impedes its economic progress. People can debate this up hill and down dale, but I am telling you these are the two political realities. Unless you get these key players together sitting round the table and agreed, you will float back into a Kyoto-style process which may end up with a treaty at the end of it but does not include the big emitters." He defended the principle of trying to reach an agreement through the G8 plus 5, saying they together represented 70% of global emissions. "The larger your committee the more difficult it is to get something done. It is sensible to get a core and build out. But anything that is agreed must feed into the UN process."

He said the US was equally clear about this, a point confirmed by American environment officials in Berlin for talks.

James Connaughton, a senior climate adviser to Mr Bush, said in Berlin yesterday that America was not attempting to torpedo the UN over climate change strategy. "It was never anyone's intention to have a separate process. The US is a party to the UN's framework convention on climate change. That is the forum where we would take action together on climate change." Washington's proposals "feed into the UN process," he said.

Mr Blair said the next steps, which are unlikely to be agreed at this G8, are "how to meet the global target, how different cap and trade systems can link up, how the developing world can have common but differentiated obligations, and how you set a proper carbon price that incentivises business".

The Americans have been sceptical about emission trading systems, arguing that they do not work in practice because the countries that overpollute can buy credits from other countries, so limiting the impact of any deal.

He insisted that the Bush administration would follow though if it agreed a target. He said: "If this administration signs up to a principle of a new deal, they are going to be signing up in circumstances where it actually intends to carry it through Congress and the Senate."

    I can persuade George Bush on climate change - Blair, G, 6.6.2007, http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2096437,00.html

Midday update

Blair launches fund to improve teaching of Islam

Monday June 4, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent


Tony Blair today launched a passionate defence of Islam as a religion of "moderation and modernity", as he announced a £1m government fund to aid teaching of the religion and train UK imams.

The prime minister, in his final days in Downing Street, placated an audience of more than 200 Muslim scholars by saying that many Christians as well as Muslims disagreed with his foreign policy over Afghanistan and Iraq.

But he said the voices of "calm" Islam had been hijacked by extremists, who were no more representative of the true faith than Christians in the Middle Ages who used torture to convert people to their faith.

And he praised a book called The Muslim Jesus as highlighting where the two religions overlapped.

Mr Blair was opening a two-day conference on Islam hosted by Cambridge University, which also marked the publication of a government-commissioned report into the teaching of Islam in the UK.

Written by leading scholar Dr Ataullah Siddiqui for the Department of Education, it says that teaching of Islam fails to reflect the "realities" of the faith in modern day multicultural Britain, instead focusing too narrowly on the Middle East.

The PM pledged a fund to implement the report's findings, such as helping train Muslim imams in UK universities to reduce mosques' reliance on overseas ministers who may not understand British society or speak good English.

The government will also announce that Islamic studies will be designated "strategically important" to the British national interest - allowing tighter official scrutiny of university courses.

Mr Blair told the conference its purpose was to "let the authentic voices of Islam ... speak for themselves.

The PM said most Muslims complained more about the image of their faith as violent and extremist than about UK foreign policy.

"The predominant complaint [from Muslims] is about how they believe their true faith is constantly hijacked and subverted by small, unrepresentative groups who get disproportionately large amounts of publicity."

But the prime minister was himself attacked over the conference.

The Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham accused Mr Blair of using Cambridge University as a "front" to organise the event and exclude political opponents.

He told Radio 4 "The conference is fronted by Cambridge University, but organised by Downing Street, the Foreign Office, and the communities department, who have deliberately chosen to exclude those Muslims who disagree with government policy."

The peer, who has not been invited to the conference, said Mr Blair was engaging in "divide and rule" tactics.

"It's a colonial style of governing," he added. "Frankly, it's appalling that Cambridge University is being used for political purposes to see off a last speech."

However, Catriona Laing of Cambridge University's interfaith programme, insisted there had been no political interference.

"Cambridge University has been planning this conference for some time now.

"We have sent out invitations in consultation with all the partners that we're organising this conference with, and we have got a range of academics, policy-makers, thinkers, religious leaders, from all over the world coming."

Gordon Brown, the prime minister in waiting, is hosting a reception for the conference tonight, while David Cameron will address it tomorrow.

Among the 200-plus clerics invited from around the world are the grand mufti of Egypt, Shaykh Ali Gomaa, and the grand mufti of Bosnia, Mustafa Ceric.

    Blair launches fund to improve teaching of Islam, G, 4.6.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2094977,00.html