A Journey

Description

The memoirs of Tony Blair - a worldwide publishing sensation In 1997, Tony Blair won the biggest Labour victory in history to sweep the party to power and end eighteen years of Conservative government. He remains the only living Labour leader to have won a general election. He has been one of the most dynamic leaders of modern times; few British prime ministers have shaped the nation's course as profoundly as Blair during his ten years in power, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. His memoirs reveal in intimate detail this unique political and personal journey, providing an insight into the man, the politician and the statesman, and charting successes, controversies and disappointments with an extraordinary candour. A Journey will prove essential and compulsive reading for anyone who wants to understand the complexities of our global world. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will also have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenges of leadership today.

Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh in 1953. He became MP for Sedgefield in 1983, leader of the Labour Party in 1994, and was prime minister of the United Kingdom from May 1997 to June 2007. Since leaving Downing Street, Tony Blair has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East, working with the Palestinians on behalf of the USA, UN, Russia and EU to prepare for statehood as part of the international community's effort to secure peace. In May 2008 he launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation which promotes respect and understanding between the major religions and makes the case for faith as a force for good in the modern world. His Africa Governance Initiative works with leaders and their governmentson policy delivery and attracting sustainable investment in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia. As the first major head of government to bring climate change to the top of the international political agenda at the 2005 G8 summit, Tony Blair works with world leaders to build consensus on an international climate policy framework. In recognition of his debt to the North East of England, he has launched The Tony Blair Sports Foundation, to increase opportunities for young people to participate in sport. He is married to Cherie Booth QC, and they have four children.

Written in a congenial style peppered with slang and gossipy asides. At one moment he is the bloke in the pub. The next, he is Churchill -- Ben MacIntyre * The Times * This is a more honest political memoir than most and more open in many respects than I had anticipated. He is compellingly candid about how scared he was when he first became prime minister . . . He is unusually direct about his calculations, even when they don't reflect well on him . . . He admits to stretching the truth beyond `breaking point' to secure a settlement in Northern Ireland. Even when the lies are told in a noble cause, few politicians are honest enough to admit that they sometimes feel compelled to be deceivers -- Andrew Rawnsley * The Observer * He is by turns outspoken, provocative, unrepentant, often serious, sometimes funny -- David Frost * Al Jazeera * Tony Blair's memoir is part psychodrama, part treatise on the frustrations of leadership in a modern democracy . . . The book's broader purpose is to preserve his legacy, settling scores, justifying the war against Iraq, and mounting a defiant plea to his party to keep faith with New Labour . . . Blair comes across as likable, if manipulative; capable of dissembling while wonderfully fluent; in short, a brilliant modern politician -- Lionel Barber * Financial Times * Will certainly become a bestseller -- Robert McCrum * The Observer *