I have always liked Tony Blair. His key skill is probably his likeability. I am about half way through Anthony Seldon’s Blair – US link/UK link and am enjoying it greatly. It is not a conventional biography. It’s certainly not a womb-to-tomb chronological record, nor is it one of those ubiquitous hagiographies written by a friendly journalist or party hack. Rather it is a critical and analytical study of modern political communication, although Seldon himself seems scarcely aware of this. Seldon presents us with 700 pages of text organized into 40 chapters. They deal with the twenty episodes and 20 people who are important in Blair’s life. Within a very few pages I was completely absorbed in an extraordinarily dense but very clear poltical narrative fleshed out with incisive analysis. Through the pages we watch a bright boy acquire an Oxford education, become a barrister, marry another barrister and, comparatively late in life, become interested in politics. We are introduced to such influentials in Blair’s life as Neil Kinnock, Philip Gould, Peter Mandelson, Derry Irvine, Roy Jenkins and Alastair Campbell; we are treated to impressively detailed accounts of their interaction with Blair, the political system and with each other. In the episode chapters we are treated to an even greater density of detail as we get the inside stories of such issues as Clause IV, the death of Diana, the Euro decision and Kosovo. In all cases we get detached, detailed and balanced accounts of the roles of the political actors and their interaction with the institutions of British democracy. The structure mostly works well, except for one major misjudgment. As you read the early chapters you slowly become aware that the key figure in Blair’s political life is Gordon Brown. His economic acumen sustains Blair but his jealousy and rivalry both undermines and constrains the prime minister. The portrait of Brown, however, is banished to the last chapter. About one-third of the way through the text I realized I had to know much more about him than had been revealed, so I turned to Chapter 40 and read the Brown profile. Much of the narrative then fell into place or took on new meaning. In the next edition Brown must be relocated to around about Chapter 10.

Now Tony Blair sure footedness seems to have eluded him. The recent furor over his donation of the profits from his upcoming autobiography to the Royal British Legion has been criticized and now his remarks of the role of tourism is peace promotion as related to Conde Nast:

“If you stand on Mount Nebo — on the Jordan River, where Moses is said to have looked out over the Promised Land — you can see right across the Jordan Valley, across the Palestinian territory. Around dusk, you see the lights of Jerusalem in the distance. There is a small bit of land, but it’s extraordinarily rich in history. There are probably more sites of antiquity here than in any other part of the world, and many of them are completely undeveloped. “The single thing that most people say to me when they come to Palestine is that they’re surprised to find it so safe. If they haven’t been before, they think they’re entering a conflict zone, and of course they’re not. There is a dispute going on in Gaza, but you can travel around the West Bank without any difficulty at all. I have no hesitation going anywhere.”

And now for Blair’s food recommendations?

“Olives from Nablus, Salfit or Jeninn and grapes from Hebron.”

Sorry Tony I really don’t think this strategy is going to work…