A Journey [Paperback]

 

 

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3.5 stars

"I was middle class and my politics in were in many ways middle class". This admission by Tony Blair early in his memoirs "A Journey" may not seem radical but are in many ways the fundamental underpinning of the new labour revolution. Whether you agree or not with the transformation of Labour achieved by a small political elite, Blair took a party that was a political irrelevance and attempted to turn it into a modern market based social democratic party based on the principles of social mobility, aspiration and wealth accumulation. These were values of what he describes as a "very tightly knit group" and yet he and colleagues like Peter Mandelson were able to strike a Faustian pact with a demoralised Labour party which was essentially a trade off between the abandonment of core values against the delivery and maintenance of power. In "A Journey" Blair recognises that one of his key skills is as a "manipulator", but even he was surprised at the total victory he achieved and its political success. Thus the history books do not lie when they point to him as Labour's most successful Prime Minister and master politician. But he is one who in his own distinct way is as historically problematic as some of his troublesome forebears and hence the reluctance of the current labour leadership contenders to embrace his legacy.

It may well be that living in a world conditioned by the Freedom of Information act (which Blair now bitterly regrets "I quake at the imbecility of it") that we are seeing the internal machinations of government properly exposed. And yet for the ordinary voter one of the bitter after tastes left from the shiny early promise of New Labour is that we all were subjected to some of the worse excesses of truth bending, spin, media manipulation and outright falsification. For example the deception over Iraq is explained away by Blair's continuing contention that "there was no big lie about WMD... because joint intelligence reports over many years had all assumed an active chemical and biological programme". The statement in the book provides its own premise, and therefore because of the fundamentally wrong psychology underpinning the decision making process we built a policy edifice around it which led to war and some 500,000 deaths. Blair of course contests this figure and argues that it is more "accurately in the region of 112,000" which of course "is far too many". But worse than this is his attempt to justify his complete submission to neo conservatism and the vice like embrace of the worse American President of the past 100 years (the "Yo Blair" incident is for example explained away as a sign of "total intimacy" between the two men). Indeed his full acceptance that as a quality Bush "had immense simplicity in how he saw the world, right or wrong. But it led to decisive leadership" p394 could have also been working descriptions of some of the 20th century worse dictators. It is an astounding statement to make, namely that decisive leadership is better characteristic than proper analysis/understanding of problems which have a Byzantine complexity and which are essentially contested. It is all the more regrettable since Blair learned none of the lessons from his own sophisticated strategy in Northern Ireland, based on tortuous moving forward of the agenda through painful incremental agreement which accepts "one step forward two steps back" (Northern Ireland was by any standards a huge achievement and success for Tony Blair). Instead somehow the two most important military powers in the West got themselves embroiled in puerile and crude notions about "the forces of good and evil" and "kaleidoscopes being shaken" as if the world is ever that simple or straightforward.

The Iraq untruths however pale in comparisons to falsehoods perpetrated throughout the course of the Brown-Blair relationship. It was only last April that the journalist Andrew Rawnsley was vilified by the New Labour camp for what was described as his totally inaccurate and false book "The end of the party". It appears however that Rawnsley may have actually underplayed the scale of visceral contempt between the two men and in terms of the language used by Blair about Brown it uncannily echoes the earlier critique of Charles Clarke who saw Brown as a "control freak" "deluded" and "uncollegiate". Blair's view of Brown as not having "zero emotional intelligence" will now enter the political lexicon. But more than this he goes further to claim that key decisions like granting independence to the Bank of England was essentially his idea not Browns. With Brown it is clear that Blair's hellishly difficult dilemma was in holding "the proverbial tiger by the tail" but he fully concedes that his failure to act upon his brooding yet popular Chancellor was his undoing. Whereas for Brown, a man patently unsuited for the top job, the maxim "be careful what you wish for" will continue to haunt him through the years.

"A Journey" is a clearly not an average political book. It has pace, is sometimes humorous and does give real insight into the overbearing pressure of modern politics in the of 24 hour media. That said in parts it reads like one of those modern management books on "Leadership" packed full of awful clichés that only resonate with the most gullible first year MBA student. The text combines on occasions with a cringingly personal style so characteristic of this age of celebrity and yet perversely this does add to its readability. Blair's final chapter is one which restates a new labour vision but in aligning this to the new coalition's priorities shows in the words of Polly Toynbee a "travelling man on a journey rightward". Certainly his critique of Labour's current blockheaded approach of slamming any deficit reduction measures is pretty devastating but for someone who subjected all parts of public policy to a stifling architecture of endless targets, stilted bureaucracy and perverse incentives now to tell us that "we need the power of the people to liberate politics" rings about as true as Wolfie's opening chant in Citizen Smith. Certainly Tony Blair has succeeded in making "A Journey" into a fascinating and chatty memoir which is "must read" for those interested in political history. But this in turn does not make it into either a great book or one which properly answers some very awkward ongoing questions of judgements and choice.

I have never liked Tony Blair, never liked Labour and marched against the War. I bought this book from a desire understand why Labour and particularly Tony Blair governed as they did. I could not put the book down and found it genuinely fascinating both as an insight into politics and also the role of the prime minister in modern Britain. Blair is very different from the man I was expecting and a far better man than I would have guessed. Although still against the war, he had by the end convinced me there was an argument both ways. Whilst I consider myself objective, I admit I felt a bit of shame that I definitely fell into the camp that has allowed itself to be led by media opinion of individuals rather than seriously considering a politicians argument on its merits. His reflection on the negative way the media influences politics and public opinion is spot on and this really must change. A lot of reviewers have criticised the personal style the book is written in and in normal circumstances I might agree. However A journey is such a good read that this becomes irrelevant and actually really helps to get inside the mind of a man who is making decisions with historic and grave consequences every day. The analysis of the relationships within the Labour Party is also particularly intriguing. Most of the negative reviews on this site do seem to come at the book with an agenda and also I suspect have not read the entire book or even some of it. Certainly for me it has changed my whole perspective of the New Labour years and its principle architects and is more informative than one hundred second-rate history books on the subject. To sum up, if you have any serious interest in Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its future, this is a book that should definitely be read.

It's extremely difficult to review this book objectively. As another reviewer pointed out, many reviews have been simply verdicts (mostly negative) on the man himself, and more specifically on his decision to go to war in Iraq. Given that the vast majority of people already have fairly entrenched views on both Blair and the war, Britain seems to have divided between those who have rushed to noisily condemn the book, and a quieter, perhaps larger group (judging by sales) who couldn't wait to get their hands on it. Buried amongst the hysteria of demonstrations at bookshops, attempts at citizen's arrests and general huffiness from both the left and the right wings, is the book itself.

One thing that can be said about 'A Journey' is that it is a very personal account of what it's like to be at the epicentre of power for over a decade. Like any other work of autobiography, particularly that of a politician, it is essentially a work of self-justification. This is hardly unique to Blair, it's virtually a given for the written word; as any first year Literature student will tell you, but the fact that this characteristic has been used as yet another stick to beat Blair with speaks volumes. So what is he saying in his autobiography? Blair sets out the context as he sees it with reference to the state of the Labour Party in the 1980's: beaten and mostly concerned with internal debate, tied to ideological and cultural baggage such as the notorious Clause IV ( a policy which committed the party to wholesale nationalisation once in power), which the party no longer believed in but which felt like heresy to abandon. As evidence of this, Blair relates an absurd episode when party officials recording an election broadcast replaced a wine bottle in the background with a pint of beer, as the wine bottle "is too middle class". If this seems ridiculous from the standpoint of the early 21st Century, for those of us on the left who lived through such risible cultural wars in the 1980's, it represents an all too real and painful memory.

The early part of the book deals with Blair's time as a young MP serving under the doomed leadership of Michael Foot. Although writing affectionately about the party at this time, his descriptions chime with the oft-quoted one of the 1983 Labour manifesto as 'the longest suicide note in history'. Blair describes a party run by and for activists, who are by definition more extreme than the rest of the population. In this he makes an interesting parallel with the post-1997 Conservative Party, being involved in a furious row with itself while the electorate essentially turns its back. Blair notes the increasing vitriol and bile of the left towards Margaret Thatcher being at odds with the fact that large swathes of Labour voters were transferring to the Conservatives. The implication from this being that Labour had lost touch with the aspirations of ordinary voters for the sake of party dogma.

As a writer, Blair is no Dostoyevsky, but he does have an engaging and personal style which gives the reader a conversational feeling. What's more there are some genuinely funny passages, such as the descriptions of John Prescott raging into the Cabinet rooms to look for hidden Liberal Democrats that he believed Blair to be colluding with ("Where's fookin' Menzies?"), or the assertion that the only way to stop Prescott talking was to leave him in charge of Prime Minister's Question Time. However, there are times when this humour begins to give the impression of Blair's inner sanctum of acolytes as a macho clique. Alistair Campbell is described as having 'great clanking balls', George Bush tells Blair he's 'got cojones' and we're all supposed to be impressed by what a regular guy Tony is.

More so than other New Labour tomes, Blair's is an ideological work. Unlike, for example, Campbell's or Prescott's books, Blair obviously has a lot emotionally invested in New Labour. The |New Labour record on Public/Private partnerships, Law and Order, Employment, Minimum wage, Northern Ireland and the Economy are all rigorously defended, as you would expect from someone so concerned with his own 'legacy'. The passages on Brown are more complimentary than the well documented quotes taken out of context would appear. For sure, the poisonous rivalry is laid bare and described in minute detail, but we do at least finally get the more nuanced perspective of one of the participants, after years of speculation on one of the most enduring partnerships in British politics.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, the matter of Iraq will always define Tony Blair for most people. As at the Chilcott enquiry, Blair here expresses sorrow but stands his ground. Yet again he details his reasons for going to war alongside Bush, and does it in a detail that frankly becomes a tedious read. The impression given is of a man pleading for his reputation, but it is not one of insincerity. The problem with any words on the war in Iraq is that we all decided what we thought a long time ago. Tony Blair can plead with some justification that the accepted version of events is simplistic and even wrong, but there it is. If hugely expensive public enquiries such as Hutton and Chilcott finding in his favour do not dislodge the impression of skulduggery then his own book is hardly going to make a difference.

Overall, I would recommend 'A Journey' if, like me, you are the proverbial 'Political Anorak'. I can't deny skimming over certain parts as I've said, but the book represents a fairly decent record of recent history written by someone who clearly had a hand in shaping it. For sure it's a record written from a particular perspective and agenda, but most reasonably intelligent readers should be capable of reading such a work critically and coming to their own conclusions.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good
I'm not a huge Tony Blair fan, but was interested to hear what he had to say about his time in UK politics. OK, so it is biased - what biography isn't? Read more

Published 26 days ago by lg2

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Short review and I'll be honest, it was different read from what I'm used to but I don't normally read books written by war criminals.

Published 26 days ago by Rob

2.0 out of 5 stars Confirms your worst suspicions
Prime Ministerial memoirs can be very revelatory and as somebody who is enough of a politics buff to have read those of Tony Blair's three predecessors (Callaghan, Thatcher and... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Fraser MacDougall

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but perhaps not 100% honest
After so long I was keen to read what Blair himself believed he had done when prime minster. There are few people who serve as PM for a decade or more. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Love Books

2.0 out of 5 stars Plastic
This was a book I expected to enjoy. I enjoy both biographies and politics, and collect autobigraphies of British Prime Ministers. However, "A Journey" was dull. Read more

Published 1 month ago by The Green Man

2.0 out of 5 stars Insufferable
I left the UK before Tony Blair and New Labour came to power. Whilst away I remained interested in the UK and UK politics. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Pswiss

5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting
I went from thinking Tony Blair is a great leader, to thinking, hmmm bit of a control freak, to now (after reading his book) thinking OK I take your points. Read more

Published 2 months ago by mikey

1.0 out of 5 stars B.Liar
Of course Tony Blair's own book paints a good picture of him. Of course he makes a good case for going to war in Iraq. Read more

Published 2 months ago by eyeswideopen

3.0 out of 5 stars A Journey
The book itself is lengthy, and gives fairly detailed accounts of the key issues that challenged Mr. Read more

Published 3 months ago by nim

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly well written
Rightly or wrongly, every reader will come to this book with their own unique preconceptions which will necessarily colour their view of it. Read more

Published 4 months ago by G. L. Haggett

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