“From public adulation to defiant isolation – this is the story of a man who discovered himself, but lost the British people.”

Built around a series of in-depth interviews with Blair, conducted by well-known (and controversially pro-Iraq) British journalist David Aaronovitch, the film is in two parts: Blair at War and Blair in Power. Both episodes contain interviews with Blair’s cronies, opponents and other world leaders such as George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Hans Blix, Bertie Ahern and Joschka Fischer.

In Blair, the former PM talks candidly about the major events that marked his premiership: his close alliance with America; his success (and later, failure) at forging international coalitions to tackle threats to world peace; the rise of Islamic extremism and his predicted, bleak future of the Iraq war:

“The enemy that we’re fighting has learnt, I’m afraid, that our stomach for this fight is limited. And I believe that they think that they can wait us out. Our determination has got to match theirs and our will has got to be stronger than theirs and at the moment I think it’s probably not.” – Tony Blair, Blair at War.

When Blair aired on BBC1 in Nov/Dec last year (watched by over two million people) it was to much controversy. Some saw it as an attempt by Blair to get even with his successor, Gordon Brown, for his alleged treachery. Brown refused to take part in the documentary, in which he’s described as acting like a surly teenage son who “growled” and “glared” at Blair in Cabinet meetings.

Equally controversial was the revelation of Blair’s strong religious conviction, the role it played in his decision making and the attempts made to hide the extent of his religious fervor from the British public, lest he be labeled a nutter.

And finally, the film puts to rest any notion that the former PM was bullied into the war in Iraq by President Bush, with Blair proclaiming “I believed in it then, I believe in it now.”

Blair also contains unique, behind-the-scenes material shot during the PM’s last weeks in power, and in his current role as Middle East Envoy.

However, it is the very last scene, after Mr. Blair is thanked for his time, that will stay with you.


How could a man who was swept to power on a wave of popular support leave office ten years later reviled by so many? It records the evolution of Blair’s leadership style from charming and persuasive to increasingly presidential. It looks at his faith and how it played a significant role in his approach to politics – sometimes enabling him to connect with others and solve problems, as in the Northern Ireland conflict, at other times giving him a moral certainty (‘It’s just the right thing to do”) that led to fierce clashes with opponents in the UK and around the world. It charts his tempestuous relationship with his finance minister, Gordon Brown, and it tells of plots to unseat him. Blair reveals the moments of despair when he came close to resignation, and how he got his groove back, once again seemingly in tune with the nation over the London bombings, as he was with the death of Princess Diana. Above all it’s the story of a thoroughly-modern leader who changed from populist crowd pleaser to conviction politician by employing skill, ruthlessness and charm – but to what end?

Blair at War - Tuesday 2nd  September 8.30pm
Part two charts how Tony Blair, the young and immensely popular PM who came to office vowing to change Britain, ended up taking it to war more times than any other leader in modern history. It tells how he first developed his policy of international co-operation and how he was encouraged by the success of the multi-lateral responses to Kosovo and Afghanistan. Then, Blair and other key participants recall the build up to the attack on Iraq, Blair being frank about his failure to keep an international coalition together. He denies that he secretly told President Bush in 2002 that he’d invade Iraq with him. He also tells how he found himself in an isolated position between the Americans, who had decided to take military action, and the French and Russians who were not prepared to support it. He describes himself as having been “in a constituency of one”, yet he allowed his “clear sense of right and wrong” to lead him into action that many British people didn’t support. He then reflects on the post-war situation in Iraq – the problems that were not anticipated and the mistakes that were made.

Quotes from Blair:

“We’ve written the first chapter in what is a long, ideological struggle – the forces of good in moderation, in human rights, in justice, versus forces that are evil, that will kill. I am confident when I look back, when I’m an even older guy than I am today, I’ll say what an amazing relationship I had [with Blair].”
– George W. Bush, US President.

“He was mockingly called ‘the deputy leader of the world’ but there was quite substantial truth in that.”
– Jack Straw, British Foreign Secretary (2001 – 2006)

“Bush called me over and said ‘I’ll say this, your guy’s got cojones…I thought it was a Spanish beer but I subsequently discovered it meant ‘balls’.”
– Alastair Campbell, Blair press secretary (1994 – 2003)

“I do have some sympathy [for Britain’s isolation re: Iraq] but did Britain have to be in that position? Is the North Atlantic relationship so powerful, so existential, that it trumps all things? That’s a question.”
– Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General (1997 – 2007)

“He deserves a lot of credit because of the leadership he showed on Northern Ireland, on aid to Africa and debt forgiveness, on Kosovo…I think he’ll go down in history in very good shape. How he’s treated on Iraq? It probably depends on how the whole thing plays out four to five years from now.”
– Bill Clinton, former US President

“His greatest quality was that he could lead, he was a leader in a positive way…but this all ended with Iraq.”
– Joschka Fischer, former German Foreign Minister

“There was this extraordinary tension between the two of them. And while the Prime Minister was incredible gentle with the Chancellor there was no give at all and one just wondered why do you put up with this? What is the relationship between the two of you that allows this to go on and at what point are you going to sack him? And the Chancellor just glared from the other side of the table and sort of growled and the Prime Minister then behaved as though he was looking after an adolescent son that was going through a bad patch.”
– Frank Field, Minister for Welfare Reform (1997 – 1998)

Blair on Iraq:
“I was in favor of military action. I was going to be arguing for military action. I’m afraid, in one sense, it’s kind of worse than people think, in so far as my position was concerned: I believed in it. I believed in it then, I believe in it now.”

“I thought it was important then and I think it important now that we stick with America, that we don’t have them try to do it on their own. This is the most fundamental struggle of our time and there is only one place to be which is in the thick of it and try to sort it out. And of course we can get out of it, we can be a medium-sized country that hides itself away at the back and doesn’t push itself forward and says to America well if you really think there’s a problem you go and sort it out. That’s not what I want for my country, that’s not what I believe the world should be like.”

“I think if you didn’t have moments of doubt and anguish over what has happened then there’s something pretty profoundly wrong with you, with me, if I didn’t, or have an acute sense of responsibility, which I have, and I have every day, and will have for the rest of my life – every day….[but] what I believe in the end is this: whatever it began as, it is part of this wider struggle today and if there’s anything I regret about this period it is that I regret not having laid out for people, in a clearer way, what I saw as the profound nature of this struggle and the fact that it was going to go on for a generation.”

The full episode of the Cutting Edge: Blair will be available on this blog after the show goes to air.