Today Tony Blair's awaited memoirs, A Journey, have been published and one of the revelations in his book is his relationship with his Chancellor and successor, Gordon Brown. It's no secret that the two men didn't get on but Tony Blair says:
"He was difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect. "
In a 91بب±¬ interview he says:
"The relationship with Gordon Brown was very very difficult but also very close. Towards the end it was frankly hard, going on impossible but that for large parts of the time we were in government, he was an immense source of strength.
But this book goes beyond the relationship between these two men, it talks about September 11th, the Iraq war, the death of Diana Princess of Wales, peace in Northern Ireland and even his use of alcohol as a crutch when things got tough.
Your comments
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19:02
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That''s all for today''s show. What will we talk about tomorrow? That''s up to you.
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18:52
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Stanley Starsh Atonya - Not really. Tony acted as President Bush's poodle since assuming office at No.10 and appeared to read scripts made from the Oval office. No amount of words or memoirs for that matter can expunge all the diplomatic faux pas
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18:51
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Ibrahim Diallo - A couple of weeks ago if am not mistaken i remember you had a documentary called 'useful idiot'.dnt u think that term fits mr blair
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18:50
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Shaun Samuel - hw come the ICC hv given a blind eye to all the human right abuse in iraq because of this tony blair
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18:44
114011476
Whys
What kind of a person
Changes his denomination
And bases his future on that
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18:44
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RP Gruijters - Bush and Blair were being challenged by a dangerous dictator who was calculating that they would back down. They were forced to prove that they were not bluffing.
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18:43
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Paul Farrell - A pity all those dead British soldiers can't add their views!!
Comment sent via YOURSAY
18:42
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Muzi Mbatha - Well,it's good to know that Tony Blair took to the bottle when things got tough during his time in office.what's left for him and friend George W Bush is to appear before the ICC at the Hague to answer for their Iraq war crime.
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18:40
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Saidu Turay - Tony may wish to be forgiven for his decision in office but history will hold responsible
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18:35
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Bugsy M. Zimandola - At the end of the day,politics wil always be politics,nothing wrong with public relations 2sway the remaining faithfulls
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18:34
109206922
augustine from cyprus, Tony blair did no wrong going to irak. Sadam killed so many of his own people and wage 2 wars against neighbours
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18:33
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Manoj in Norfolk emailed - Tony Blair is a great leader. Except on the Iraq war issue, his judgements and leadership on various other aspect were great. It's a shame he had to leave office just because of Mr. Brown.
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18:32
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Simone in Brazil emailed - Memoirs are an easy way to promote oneself, especially because we naturally attempt to show our personality according to our own thoughts and judgment, which is not necessarily the same that general people have about us.
Comment sent via BLOG
18:32
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Elias on the blog - It is high time to give Tony Blair a break, he was a brilliant politician and Prime Minister, he did what he thought was best for the country, and if he made some mistakes, so what?. No one can claim having never made mistakes 'to err is human', it is high time he was Knighted by the Queen for his past endeavours.
Comment sent via YOURSAY
18:31
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Susan in Ireland - Talk about handbags at dawn. Is there a politician out there who has a nice word to say about ex colleagues? They will do anything and say anything if it helps sell a book.
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18:24
108486501
Interesting, here in italy blair was always viewed with suspicion. The difference between his words & actions was seen & noted. Simon Florence Italy. Call me.
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18:30
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Dee Kieft - I'm looking forward to the book. Mr Blair and all world leaders make mistakes, but Mr Blair is also trying to rectify some of the damage. I'm open & believe that we should forgive and move on
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18:18
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Grace Sylvester - The deed has already been done, hate him or love him it wont change a thing.
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17:51
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Ben S here on WHYS Live today. Tony Blair''s released his memoirs - but have you learned anything new about him? Do you feel you understand the reasons for his decisions a bit more? Let us know.
Have we learnt anything new about Tony Blair?
| Wednesday, 9 Sept. 2010 | 18:00 - 19:00 GMT
Today Tony Blair's awaited memoirs, A Journey, have been published and one of the revelations in his book is his relationship with his Chancellor and successor, Gordon Brown. It's no secret that the two men didn't get on but Tony Blair says:
"He was difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect. "
In a 91بب±¬ interview he says:
"The relationship with Gordon Brown was very very difficult but also very close. Towards the end it was frankly hard, going on impossible but that for large parts of the time we were in government, he was an immense source of strength.
But this book goes beyond the relationship between these two men, it talks about September 11th, the Iraq war, the death of Diana Princess of Wales, peace in Northern Ireland and even his use of alcohol as a crutch when things got tough.
Your comments
Comment sent via host
That''s all for today''s show. What will we talk about tomorrow? That''s up to you.
Comment sent via Facebook
Stanley Starsh Atonya - Not really. Tony acted as President Bush's poodle since assuming office at No.10 and appeared to read scripts made from the Oval office. No amount of words or memoirs for that matter can expunge all the diplomatic faux pas
Comment sent via Facebook
Ibrahim Diallo - A couple of weeks ago if am not mistaken i remember you had a documentary called 'useful idiot'.dnt u think that term fits mr blair
Comment sent via Facebook
Shaun Samuel - hw come the ICC hv given a blind eye to all the human right abuse in iraq because of this tony blair
Comment sent via SMS
Whys What kind of a person Changes his denomination And bases his future on that
Comment sent via YOURSAY
RP Gruijters - Bush and Blair were being challenged by a dangerous dictator who was calculating that they would back down. They were forced to prove that they were not bluffing.
Comment sent via Facebook
Paul Farrell - A pity all those dead British soldiers can't add their views!!
Comment sent via YOURSAY
Muzi Mbatha - Well,it's good to know that Tony Blair took to the bottle when things got tough during his time in office.what's left for him and friend George W Bush is to appear before the ICC at the Hague to answer for their Iraq war crime.
Comment sent via Facebook
Saidu Turay - Tony may wish to be forgiven for his decision in office but history will hold responsible
Comment sent via Facebook
Bugsy M. Zimandola - At the end of the day,politics wil always be politics,nothing wrong with public relations 2sway the remaining faithfulls
Comment sent via SMS
augustine from cyprus, Tony blair did no wrong going to irak. Sadam killed so many of his own people and wage 2 wars against neighbours
Comment sent via YOURSAY
Manoj in Norfolk emailed - Tony Blair is a great leader. Except on the Iraq war issue, his judgements and leadership on various other aspect were great. It's a shame he had to leave office just because of Mr. Brown.
Comment sent via YOURSAY
Simone in Brazil emailed - Memoirs are an easy way to promote oneself, especially because we naturally attempt to show our personality according to our own thoughts and judgment, which is not necessarily the same that general people have about us.
Comment sent via BLOG
Elias on the blog - It is high time to give Tony Blair a break, he was a brilliant politician and Prime Minister, he did what he thought was best for the country, and if he made some mistakes, so what?. No one can claim having never made mistakes 'to err is human', it is high time he was Knighted by the Queen for his past endeavours.
Comment sent via YOURSAY
Susan in Ireland - Talk about handbags at dawn. Is there a politician out there who has a nice word to say about ex colleagues? They will do anything and say anything if it helps sell a book.
Comment sent via SMS
Interesting, here in italy blair was always viewed with suspicion. The difference between his words & actions was seen & noted. Simon Florence Italy. Call me.
Comment sent via Facebook
Dee Kieft - I'm looking forward to the book. Mr Blair and all world leaders make mistakes, but Mr Blair is also trying to rectify some of the damage. I'm open & believe that we should forgive and move on
Comment sent via Facebook
Grace Sylvester - The deed has already been done, hate him or love him it wont change a thing.
Comment sent via host
Ben S here on WHYS Live today. Tony Blair''s released his memoirs - but have you learned anything new about him? Do you feel you understand the reasons for his decisions a bit more? Let us know.