Blair memoirs: I may even read them
Posted on Wednesday 1 September, 2010
Filed Under New Labour
I WAS once involved in loose discussions about ghost-writing the autobiography of a 1970s rock star. Although nothing ever came of the project, I was present at a meeting with a literary agent, at which the inevitable topic of money came up.
Everything depended on how many beans the subject, who was a huge name back in the day, was willing to spill. On the agent’s reckoning, a certain level of sales to those who were teenagers at the time seemed all but guaranteed, so even the blandest of memoirs would probably fetch an advance of £30,000.
But had the guy in question had been will been willing to reveal all – the underage groupies, the drugs, the fights on the tour bus – the bidding would have opened at around £100k and might even have gone far higher, with me on for a tasty percentage. Sadly, he opted for discretion, and that in the end was that.
By contrast, Tony Blair – if the wall-to-wall coverage accorded to publication of ‘A Journey’ today is anything to go by – appears to have opted for a fair degree of frankness in his memoirs. But are Random House getting the £4.5m-worth of frankness they are paying for?
That Blair long had Brown down as some sort of autistic spectrum dweeb, for instance, only confirms what everybody knew already anyway. Yet I seem to recall many denials that this was the case, which are now shown up as the fibs we all guessed they were.
I’m also amused by the former PM’s apparently belief that he was some kind of borderline alcoholic because he was partial to a quick livener prior to dinner, and then consumed half a bottle of wine with food. That would actually count as moderation for many of us.
Tippling at that level hardly takes you over the ludicrously low 21 units per week guideline, let alone provide you with the winning ticket in aesophagal cancer lottery unfortunately drawn by Christopher Hitchens. With the immense stress levels Blair must have faced, most of us would surely have been perpetually comatose.
Rather more seriously, the proclamation that he could not have foreseen the nightmare – and that’s his word – that unfolded in Iraq is entirely risible. Nobody of any intelligence, whether they supported the invasion of Iraq or not, could possibly have fallen for all that Rumsfeld guff about the occupation forces being welcomed as liberators.
Normally I wouldn’t bother with 715-pages of reminiscences from a retired politician, given that the genre is notorious for its soporific nature. I tend to prefer accounts by well-connected journos with a modicum of literary ability, if only because the picture they give is far less likely to be self-serving.
On that note, I can recommend Andrew Rawnsley’s ‘The End of the Party’, which I am about two-thirds of the way through. While the soft centrist viewpoint from which it is written is so designedly inoffensive that many leftists are bound to find it offensive, it clearly provides the benchmark by which all subsequent attempts to portray the second and third terms of New Labour in office will be measured.
I am mindful that Margaret Thatcher’s ‘The Downing Street Years’, which I got as a present, has sat largely unopened on my bookshelves since 1993, and probably should have gone to the charity shop ages ago.
But ‘A Journey’ does sound rather more enticing than Maggie’s bowdlerised ramblings. I may well buy it, or at least look out for it at Oxfam.
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With the immense stress levels Blair must have faced, most of us would surely have been perpetually comatose.
I doubt a (probable) psychopath like Blair feels stress.
Scratch. Why do you suggest Blair could be a psychopath?
Reading this man’s risible, self justifying garbage in the Guardian today, one thing above all else came to mind, Hannah Arendt’s phrase “The Banality of Evil”…..
“The following is a list of items based on the research of Robert Hare, Ph.D. which is derived from the “The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, .1991, Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.” These are the most highly researched and recognized characteristics of psychopathic personality and behavior.”
•glibness/superficial charm
•grandiose sense of self worth
•need for stimulation/prone to boredom
•pathological lying
•conning/manipulative
•lack of remorse or guilt
•shallow emotional response
•callous/lack of empathy
•parasitic lifestyle
•poor behavioral controls
•promiscuous sexual behavior
•early behavioral problems
•lack of realistic long term goals
•impulsivity
•irresponsibility
•failure to accept responsibility for their own actions
•many short term relationships
•juvenile delinquency
•revocation of conditional release
•criminal versatility
I think we can say he certainly ticks a few boxes.
p.s. Great to see DBC Reed back prmoting the LVT!
Based on that list Dean we probably all tick a few boxes, I certainly did.
Yes but Michael I tend to think he ticks the boxes such as, pathological lying, lack of remorse or guilt, callous/lack of empathy, conning/manipulative. And I am guessing you are not a mass murderer like him, so these categories need never be applied to you!!
Dean. And the British people elected him after attacking Iraq. Do not bury your head in the sand Dean the British knew exactly the reason for invasion. Oil. I think all those so called gullible opponents of Blair that claimed as an excuse they were conned are probably the psychopaths. Blair is not the first PM (NOR THE LAST) to do what is considered necessary for the British interest. Britain needs oil = Muslims killing Muslims = Britain gets oil. Who are the dafties, = Muslims. If Muslims could stop killing each other over religious shite then they may have a chance in forming a united front. They will have to do it very quickly the Oil is running out.
The worst thing about this (perhaps every) ‘blog’ is the comments, this one included. Comment is free, but comments are shit.
Bristolian. Then you should enhance this blog with your shit comments. Nothing worse than a moaner.
Bristolian. Then you should enhance this blog with your shit comments. Nothing worse than a moaner.
In all fairness, Barleymow is right. It’s a ludicrous waste of time.
Genocide is worse than a moaner, but so is gonorrhea I should think. And I did specify that I included my own comment for my criticism. It is rather a waste of time though, isn’t it? I’m sure it’s nice for a blog author to know, through the comments stream, that their efforts are noted, one way or t’other, but I rarely read, or indeed write, anything esecially interesting in ‘comments’. My suggestion is that the comments feeds of weblogs, much like the public comment constantly phoned/texted/tweeted… into TV and radio output, is often worthless to the audience. No matter, I just thought I’d ironically comment that comment is often rubbish.
Bristolian makes a comeback with a comment Bristolian thinks is rubbish. Let others judge!
Dave are you going to do something on Hague or are you a bit cautious since the German lady? Seems a shame not to step into the Guido/Iain Dale spat.
In the (first) rough draft copy of Blair’s memoirs that there was a hundred page chapter on Cherie’s affair with Gordon Brown. “I deeply hated Gordon when Cherie broke down in drunken tears and confessed her nights of Brownite sado-lust that entire summer. It was just after Chris Bryant’s wonderful coming out party at Lord Browne’s”). Blair’s own on-off affair with Denis Macshane has also been deleted, “hugs, hand holding and kisses in the Brussels bistros, the nights would never end as my Dennis charmed the dashing Flemish waiters”). Also redacted is his daughter’s membership of the INLA when she tried to emulate Bobby Sands. “She went down to three stone and we had to hide her in car boot. Only Nick Robinson knew the real story”.
I don’t really know what I could add, Les.
Personally I am unconcerned about WH’s sexuality one way or the other. It’s entirely his look out.
I think Dave should consider banning Jimmy Glesga as well as Bill Thingy. They both seem to think the comments box is there for them to fill up with ill-informed axe-grinding and both tend to have me navigating away from Dave’s site as soon as I see them in the comments.
On the WH issue – Isn’t there some concern over Hague’s decision to give this guy a job?
Also as a conspiracy theory, I wonder if these stories are intended to promote right wing blogging by forces within the political right.
boilermaker. You must require a large hat to fit your ego. Why would Dave wish to ban a fellow party member. Maybe because we got rid of the unelectable extremists!
I see you’re off in your parallel universe again. Some of my best friends are mad as a hatter but they don’t waste everyone’s time clogging up bloggers’ comments boxes with their ramblings.
boilermaker. Clogging up bloggers. Get a life numpty.
Read it again, numpty.