Tony Blair/Bibliography

Biographical Articles

• tonyblairoffice.org - Official site with details of Tony Blair's post-Downing Street career.
• The Blair Years 1997-2007 - BBC articles covering major events of Tony Blair's premiership, with analysis.
• The New York Times - Includes short biography and links to NY Times articles relating to Tony Blair.
• Tony Blair, issue by issue by Tom Bentley; English edition, Le Monde diplomatique, February 2003.
• Tony Blair,British Prime Minister 1997-2007 Research Note, Parliament of Australia.
• Newsweek: 'Of Roots and Legacies' 26th June 2007; by Stryker McGuire; ("As Tony Blair leaves office, the bitterness over Iraq tends to eclipse the memories of how the British prime minister transformed the ruins of an old socialist party into the government of Cool Britannia...")

Speeches and Writings

• Tony Blair archive - official record of Tony Blair's speeches, films and podcasts from the UK Prime Minister's website.
• Blair:In his own words BBC Archive of quotes from Tony Blair during his ten years as Prime Minister
• Blair, Tony (2004) New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country. Westerview Press, ISBN 081334235X. Review ("I'll not buy a book by that terrible little man")in the right-wing Spectator magazine.
• Paul Richards (Editor) (2004) Tony Blair In His Own Words. Politico's Publishing, ISBN 1842750895 Collection of Blair's speeches and writings.
• Speech at the Campaign for Freedom of Information's annual Awards ceremony, 25 March 1996. "I don't believe it is possible for government to govern effectively now, unless it governs in some sense in a relationship of partnership with the people whom it is governing. It is one of the reasons why decentralisation of power is actually in the interests of government."
• The Power Of Community Can Change The World' Speech to Labour Party Conference, October 2001 Speech given in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and arguing for intervention in Afghanistan."Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater."
• 'I believe this is Africa's best chance for a generation ...' Tony Blair in The Guardian, 12th March 2005
• Address by Tony Blair to the GAVI Alliance, mainly on Africa and Global Warming, and the need for concerted international action 27th January 2005. On global warming, he says "So it would be true to say the evidence is still disputed. It would be wrong to say that the evidence of danger is not clearly and persuasively advocated by a very large number of entirely independent and compelling voices. They are the majority. The majority is not always right; but they deserve to be listened to."
• 'The Shame of Slavery' Tony Blair writes in New Nation, 27th November 2006 about Britain's role in the transatlatic slave trade.
• 'A Global alliance for Global Values' Tony Blair (2006), published by The Foreign Policy Centre
• Address by Tony Blair' to the Australian Parliament, 27th March 2006
• Final Conference Speech 17th September 2006 ("I know I look a lot older. That's what being leader of the Labour Party does to you. Actually, looking round some of you look a lot older. That's what having me as leader of the Labour Party does to you.") Defending New Labour, he said, "Values unrelated to modern reality are not just electorally hopeless, the values themselves become devalued. They have no purchase on the real world. We won not because we surrendered our values but because we finally had the courage to be true to them."
• 'Blair: shackled in war on terror' Tony Blair writing in The Sunday Times 27th May 2007
• What I've learned' Tony Blair, writing in The Economist, 31st May 2007
• The text of Tony Blair's resignation speech at his Sedgefield constituency is included in The Independent: 'The Legacy: Tony Blair, Prime Minister, 1997-2007' by Andrew Grice, 11th May 2007. ("Great expectations not fulfilled in every part, for sure. Occasionally, people say, as I said earlier, 'They were too high, you should have lowered them.' But, to be frank, I would not have wanted it any other way.")

Books about Tony Blair

• Abse, Leo (2001) Tony Blair: The Man Behind the Smile. Robson Books, ISBN 1-86105-364-9 Written by a former, left-wing Labour MP, updated as Tony Blair: the man who lost his smile Robson Books, ISBN1861056982. Reviewed ("Mugged by an 86-year-old")in the New Statesman magazine. Extract: "Adolescent dreams of new regenerative politics acted out in rock [music] may be tolerable. But when the dream of rebirth is elaborated into a political manifesto, then we are placed on the alert; for this is the poison offered by the Nazi and fascist hucksters and accepted by their dupes."

• Beckett F, Hencke D (2004) The Blairs and Their Court. Aurum Press, ISBN 1-84513-024-3 See extracts here.

• Beckett F, Hencke D (2006)The Survivor: Tony Blair in Peace and War . Aurum Press, ISBN 184513110X. Written by two investigative journalists, this book was nominated for Britain’s Channel 4 "Political Book of the Year" Award.

• Campbell, Alastair (2007) The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries. Knopf, ISBN 0307268314. By the controversial Press Secretary to Tony Blair. Review ("Not such a lovely bloke") in The Guardian and another ("Vivid, intriguing, boastful - and honest") in The Times. Extract: "April 2003: Clare [Short] was rabbiting on more than ever. I slipped TB [Tony Blair] a note about the time Saddam shot his health minister at a meeting because she was annoying him and did he want me to get a gun? 'Yes,' he scribbled."

• Gould, Philip (1999) The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party. Abacus, ISBN 0-349-11177-4. Written by one of Blair's strategists. Reviewed in the Independent newspaper("No wonder Tony is a control freak")

• Naughtie, James (2001) The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency. Macmillan, ISBN 1-4050-5001-2. James Naughtie is a broadcaster with the BBC, and political journalist. Interview inThe Washington Post.

• Naughtie, James (2002) The Rivals. Fourth estate, ISBN 1841154741 The hardback version was subtitled Blair and Brown: the Intimate Story of a Political Marriage. Inspired the Channel Four televion drama The Deal.[1] Reviewed by The New Statesman ("...James Naughtie was paid more than £300,000 for the inside story on Blair and Brown. But his book was received with boredom and indifference.")

• Rawnsley, Andrew (2000) Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour. Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-14029-3. Rawnsley is a broadcaster and political journalist; he is Chief Political Commentator and Associate Editor for the Observer, a British Sunday newspaper. Review ("United they stand") in the New Statesman, October 2000.

• Rentoul, John (2001) Tony Blair: Prime Minister. Little Brown, ISBN 0-316-85496-4. First sentence: "Tony Blair's political ambition began at the age of eleven, when his father Leo's ended, on 4 July 1964."

• Riddell, Peter (2004) The Unfulfilled Prime Minister: Tony Blair and the End of Optimism. Politico's Publishing, ISBN 1-84275-113-1. Review (..Where did it all go wrong?") in the New Statesman.

• Seldon, Anthony (2004) Blair. Free Press, ISBN 0-7432-3211-9. Written by a historian and social commentator; see Selson on video "Tony Blair in History": introducing a Conference on "What ever happened to Cool Britannia? The UK after eight years of Blair." Montreal, August 2005.

• Short, Clare (2004) An Honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power. Free Press, ISBN 0-7432-6392-8. Clare Short was a left-wing minister in Blair's Cabinet; she resigned three times; twice in protest at Government policies in the two Gulf Wars and once in a protest against anti-terrorism legislation[2].

• Stephens, Philip (2004) Tony Blair: The Making of a World Leader. Viking Books. ISBN 0-670-03300-6. Written by a senior editor of The Financial Times. Review ("A man for all seasons.") in The Economist. Extract: [For Blair,] "ending the tyranny in Iraq was a moral cause fully in accord with the teachings on just wars of Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas."

• Stothard, Peter (2003) Thirty Days: Tony Blair and the Test of History HarperCollins, ISBN 0060582618. Review in The New Yorker. Sir Peter Stophard, a former Editor of The Times. accompanied Blair daily in March and April 2003,

Scholarly studies

• Bevir, Mark and Rhodes, R. A. W. (2006) "Prime Ministers, Presidentialism and Westminster Smokescreens." Political Studies 54:671-90. Issn 0032-3217 Fulltext: [ Ebsco ]
• Elden, Stuart (2007) "Blair, Neo-conservatism and the War on Territorial Integrity." International Politics 44:37-57. Issn 1384-5748
• Fielding, Steven (2003) The Labour Party: Continuity and Change in the Making of New Labour. Palgrave, 247 pp., offers a systematic argument that the Labour Party, under Blair's leadership, has been faithful to its past, and represents "traditional values in a modern setting." ISBN 0333973925
• Foley, Michael (2003) John Major, Tony Blair and a Conflict of Leadership: Collision Course. Manchester University Press, 212 pp. ISBN 0719063175
• Foley, Michael (2001) The British Presidency: Tony Blair and the Politics of Public Leadership
• Gardner, Lloyd C (2005) "'Damned High Wire,' on the Special Relationship That Unites Bush and Blair in Iraq." Journal of Transatlantic Studies 3(1 Supplement):43-62. Issn: 1479-4012 Fulltext: [ Ebsco ]
• Gray, John (2004) "Blair's Project in Retrospect." International Affairs 80:39-48. Issn: 0020-5850 Fulltext: [ Ebsco ], argues Blair's project for closer relations with Europe was seriously damaged by his misjudged support for US foreign policy in Iraq in 2002-04.
• King, Anthony, ed. (1998) New Labour Triumphs: Britain at the Polls. Chatham House, 259pp. ISBN 1566430577
• Needham, Catherine (2005) "Brand Leaders: Clinton, Blair and the Limitations of the Permanent Campaign." Political Studies 53:343-61. Issn: 0032-3217 Fulltext: [ Ebsco ]
• Reitan, Earl A (2003) The Thatcher Revolution: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Tony Blair, and the Transformation of Modern Britain, 1979-2001. Rowman & Littlefield, 260 pp. ISBN 0742522032
• Rubinstein, David (2005) The Labour Party and British Society: 1880-2005. Brighton, Sussex Acad., 228 pp. ISBN 1845190564
• Williams, Paul (2006) British Foreign Policy under New Labour Palgrave Macmillan 288pp ISBN 1403913218

Historical Documents

• The Butler Report "Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction. Report to the House of Commons, 14th July 2004. Full text (1Mb). See The Guardian: Butler Report: Key Findings. The Report concluded that, in March 2002 the available intelligence was "insufficiently robust" to prove Iraq was in breach of the United Nations' resolutions, and that some of the human intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was "seriously flawed" and "open to doubt", but found no evidence of "deliberate distortion" of the intelligence material or of "culpable negligence".