BLAIR'S BOOK

THE British media can be like a dog with a bone sometimes. Although their often disgraceful treatment of Gordon Brown finally knocked him down and got him out at the May general election they are still chewing on what little meat is left. A word count of media comment on Tony Blair's memoirs would almost certainly return “maddening” as one of the most frequently quoted descriptions of Gordon Brown. How many, though, bothered to put the use of the word in context: “Was he difficult, at times maddening? Yes, but he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect.” Why weren't the headlines, “Blair says Brown was strong, capable and brilliant”? (The Bulletin yesterday was one paper which gave the complete reference.)

It is obviously far too early to form a judgement on where Blair's A Journey stands in comparison to other prime ministerial volumes of after-thoughts. From some published excerpts it seems to be less a reflective autobiography than an accumulation of chatty memoirs. It is an unfortunate fact of media life today that retired presidents and prime minister's have no option but to go into print long before they have had the time to put their thoughts about their time in office in some kind of historical perspective. The result is books which amount to little more than a defence of all that the author did. This certainly seems to be the case with Mr Blair's book.