Tony Blair: Trending quotes (page 2)

“Isn't it extraordinary that the Prime Minister of our country can't even urge his Party to back his own position. Weak! Weak! Weak!”

Tony Blair

Prime Ministers Questions, 30 January 1997.
1990s

Country

“Sir Michael Spicer: What are the characteristics of old Labour that he dislikes so much?
Tony Blair: I am afraid that the Hon. Gentleman will have to repeat that.
Sir Michael Spicer: What are the characteristics of old Labour that he dislikes so much?
Tony Blair: Basically, that it never won two successive terms of Government and, perhaps, that it never put the Conservative party flat on its back, which is where it is now. Thankfully, we are running an economy with low inflation, low mortgage rates and low unemployment; fortunately, we are doing a darn sight better than the Government of whom the right hon. Gentleman was a Member, who had—I thank him for allowing me to mention this—interest rates at 10 per cent. for four years, 3 million unemployed and two recessions. Whether it is old Labour or new Labour, it is a darn sight better than the Tories.”

Tony Blair

Hansard http://archive.is/20130707074457/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmhansrd/cm050126/debtext/50126-03.htm%2350126-03_spnew24, House of Commons, 6th series, vol. 430, col. 302.
In the House of Commons, 26 January 2005.
2000s

Success

“The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth, and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few.”

Tony Blair

As quoted in "Socialism is So Hot Right Now" https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/socialism-hot-right-now/ (17 September 2018), by Jonah Goldberg, Commentary
1990s

Communication , Wealth

“So, of course, the visions are painted in the colours of the rainbow, and the reality is sketched in duller tones of black and white and grey. But I ask you to accept one thing. Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong. That is your call. But believe one thing, if nothing else. I did what I thought was right for our country.”

Tony Blair

" Full text of Tony Blair's resignation speech http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/the_blair_years/article1772414.ece", Times Online, 10 May 2007.
Announcing his impending resignation, Trimdon Labour Club, 10 May 2007.
2000s

Reality , Heart , Painting , Country

“I was born in 1953, a child of the Cold War era, raised amid the constant fear of a conflict with the potential to destroy humanity. Whatever other dangers may exist, no such fear exists today. Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war. That is a prize beyond value.”

Tony Blair

Martin Bentham, "You're the boss, Tony", The Sun, 28 May 1997, p. 2.
Speech at a summit in Paris between NATO and Russia, 27 May 1997.
1990s

War , Children , Fear

“He wants a Bill of Rights for Britain drafted by a Committee of Lawyers. Have you ever tried drafting anything with a Committee of Lawyers?”

Tony Blair

In full: Tony Blair's speech http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5382590.stm, BBC News online
Attacking David Cameron, during his Labour Party Conference speech on 26 September 2006.
2000s

“This is not a clash between civilisations. It is a clash about civilisation.”

Tony Blair

"Clash about civilisations" speech http://web.archive.org/20060411042815/www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page9224.asp, Prime Minister's website.
Foreign Policy speech at Reuters Headquarters, London, on 21 March 2006.
2000s

“I can stand here today, leader of the Labour Party, Prime Minister, and say to the British people: you have never had it so … prudent.”

Tony Blair

Tony Blair's speech in full http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/460009.stm, BBC News online
Speech to the Labour Party conference, 28 September 1999, paraphrasing Harold Macmillan's statement "most of our people have never had it so good" and comparing with Gordon Brown's frequent use of the word "prudent".
1990s

People

“A new dawn has broken, has it not?”

Tony Blair

Victory speech at Labour election-night party, Royal Festival Hall, London, 2 May 1997.
1990s

“That's the art of leadership. To make sure that what shouldn't happen, doesn't happen.”

Tony Blair

[Stryker Mcguire, I Did It My Way, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17202843/site/newsweek/, Newsweek International, 2007-02-26, 2007-02-20]
Interview with Newsweek.
2000s

Art

“I couldn't live with myself if I thought that these big strategic choices for my generation were there, and I wasn't even making them – or I was making them according to what was expedient rather than what I actually thought was right.”

Tony Blair

[Stryker Mcguire, I Did It My Way, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17202843/site/newsweek/, Newsweek International, 2007-02-26, 2007-02-20]
2000s

“The spirit of our age is one in which the prejudices of the past are put behind us, where our diversity is our strength. It is this which is under attack. Moderates are not moderate through weakness but through strength. Now is the time to show it in defence of our common values.”

Tony Blair

" Prime Minister Blair's speech http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/international/europe/17text-blair.html?ex=1174104000&en=fc0f4a2452f34103&ei=5070", New York Times, 16 July 2005.
Speech to the Labour Party National Policy Forum.
2000s

Age , Time , Past

“My message to Sinn Fein is clear. The settlement train is leaving. I want you on that train. But it is leaving anyway and I will not allow it to wait for you.”

Tony Blair

David McKittrick, "Blair offers a fresh start for Irish peace", The Independent, 17 May 1997, p. 1.
Speech at the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show, 16 May 1997.
1990s

Waiting , Training

“We do, as a new Government, have to be extremely careful after 18 years in opposition. A lot of people who worked for us, they then go on and work for the lobby firms. I think we have to be very careful with people fluttering around the new Government, trying to make all sorts of claims of influence, that we are purer than pure, that people understand that we will not have any truck with anything that is improper in any shape or form at all.”

Tony Blair

David Hughes, "'Don't flutter around us' Blair warns lobbyists", Daily Mail, 8 July 1998, p. 2.
After a scandal about lobbying and access; this statement is often misremembered as "whiter than white".
1990s

People , Understanding , Thinking

“The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.”

Tony Blair

Address to the 2005 G8 climate change summit in London, as reported by David Adam, "Blair signals shift over climate change", http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/nov/02/greenpolitics.frontpagenews The Guardian, 1 November 2005.
2000s

Truth , Change , Country

“Yes, I did have to struggle very hard to get this [the vote on the Iraq war] through, but the reason I did it was because I thought it was the right thing to do. I didn't take this on myself… just because I thought, 'Let's give myself a really hard time for a couple of years!”

Tony Blair

Source: On BBC Question Time's election special programme, 28 April, 2005.

War , Time

“Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing.”

Tony Blair

Hansard http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo051109/debtext/51109-03.htm#51109-03_spmin10, House of Commons, 6th series, vol. 439, col. 302.
9 November 2005, responding to Charles Kennedy in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions. Blair was referring to the likely defeat in Parliament of additional powers to detain terror suspects without charge, which happened later that day.
2000s

“As I have said throughout, I have no doubt that they will find the clearest possible evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.”

Tony Blair

Hansard http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo030604/debtext/30604-06.htm, House of Commons, 6th series, vol. 406, col. 161.
Replying to questions following statement on the G8 summit, House of Commons, 4 June 2003.
2000s

“Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education. We are 35th in the world league of education standards – 35th. At every level, radical improvement and reform.”

Tony Blair

"We are back as the people's party, says Blair", The Times, 2 October 1996.
1990s

World , Education

“There were people who got me very involved in politics. But then there was also a book. It was a trilogy, a biography of Trotsky by Isaac Deutscher, which made a very deep impression on me and gave me a love of political biography for the rest of my life.”

Tony Blair

Cahal Milmo, " Blair reveals an unexpected influence: Trotsky http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blair-reveals-an-unexpected-influence-trotsky-468385.html", The Independent, 3 March 2006.
Speech to the Commonwealth Club, London, 2 March 2006.
2000s

Love , Life , People , Books