British Prime Minister (1953- )
For the moment, let me say this: Saddam Hussein's regime is despicable, he is developing weapons of mass destruction, and we cannot leave him doing so unchecked. He is a threat to his own people and to the region and, if allowed to develop these weapons, a threat to us also.
TONY BLAIR
House of Commons statement on discussions with President Bush over the Middle East, 10 April 2002
There was no way of uniting the country over Brexit. Britain is deeply divided over it. Now that Brexit will happen, we must make the best of it and the country must come together.
TONY BLAIR
New Statesman, December 18, 2019
The British are special. The world knows it. In our innermost thoughts we know it. This is the greatest nation on earth. So it has been an honour to serve it. I give my thanks to you, the British people, for the times that I have succeeded, and my apologies to you for the times I have fallen short. But good luck.
TONY BLAIR
announcing his impending resignation, Trimdon Labour Club, 10 May 2007
Okay, so one thing I've learned over a long period time in politics is not to get mixed up in someone else's politics. I've got enough problems back here at home, so we'll leave all these questions around Ukraine and impeachment to American politics.
TONY BLAIR
interview, CNBC, November 5, 2019
Bluntly, what Labour has stood for in terms of values has been magnificent; its achievements in government huge; but as a political competitor, it has too often been a failure. It has only once been elected for two successive full terms; only once for three; and both as New Labour, a period much of today's party wants to disown.
TONY BLAIR
New Statesman, February 20, 2020
The extraordinary thing is the Labour Party's desire to rewrite its only period of majority government in half a century in negative terms.
TONY BLAIR
New Statesman, December 18, 2019
But all progressive movements have to beware their own successes. The progress they make reinvents the society they work in, and they must in turn reinvent themselves to keep up, otherwise they become hollow echoes from a once loud, strong voice, reverberating still, but to little effect. As their consequence diminishes, so their dwindling adherents become ever more shrill and strident, more solicitous of protecting their own shrinking space rather than understanding that the voice of the times has moved on and they must listen before speaking. It happens in all organizations. It is fatal to those who are never confronted by a reckoning that forces them to face up and get wise.
TONY BLAIR
A Journey: My Political Life
What always happens, in my experience, is that people always think American politics is very different, but usually it is a predictor of what happens in the politics elsewhere.
TONY BLAIR
interview, Politico, August 24, 2016
The reality is that as a result of the changing context in which 21st communications operate, the media are facing a hugely more intense form of competition than anything they have ever experienced before. They are not actually the masters of this change, they are in many ways the victims. The result however is a media that increasingly and to a dangerous degree is driven by impact. Impact is what matters. It is all that can distinguish, can rise above the clamour, can get noticed. Impact gives competitive edge. Of course the accuracy of the story counts, but it is secondary often 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.
TONY BLAIR
lecture, "Our Nation's Future", 12 June 2007
Moderates are not moderate through weakness but through strength.
TONY BLAIR
speech to the Labour Party National Policy Forum, 16 July 2005