A Journey is a memoir by Tony Blair of his tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Published in the UK on 1 September 2010, it covers events from when he became leader of the Labour Party in 1994 and transformed it into "New Labour", holding power for a party record three successive terms, to his resignation and replacement as prime minister by his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. Blair donated his £4.6-million advance, and all subsequent royalties, to the British Armed Forces charity the Royal British Legion. It became the fastest-selling autobiography of all time at the bookstore chain Waterstones. Promotional events were marked by anti-war protests.
Two of the book's major topics are the strains in Blair's relationship with Brown after Blair allegedly reneged on the pair's 1994 agreement to step down as prime minister much earlier, and his controversial decision to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair discusses Labour's future following the 2010 general election, his relations with the Royal Family, and how he came to respect President of the United States George W. Bush. Reviews were mixed; some criticised Blair's writing style, but others called it candid.
Gordon Brown was reportedly unhappy over Blair's comments about him, while David Runciman of the London Review of Books suggested there were episodes from Blair's troubled relationship with his Chancellor that were absent from A Journey. Labour politician Alistair Darling said the book demonstrates how the country can be changed for the better when a government has a clear purpose, while the New Zealand Listener suggested Blair and his contemporaries had helped to write New Labour's epitaph. Some families of servicemen and women who were killed in Iraq reacted angrily, with one antiwar commentator dismissing Blair's regrets over the loss of life. Shortly after the release of A Journey, the screenwriter of the 2006 film The Queen, which depicts Blair's first months in office, accused Blair of plagiarising a conversation with Queen Elizabeth II from him.
History In March 2010, it was reported that Tony Blair's memoirs, under the title The Journey, would be published in September. Gail Rebuck, chairman and chief executive of Random House, announced that the memoirs would be published by Hutchinson in the United Kingdom. She predicted that the book would "break new ground in prime ministerial memoirs just as Blair himself broke the mould of British politics." Preliminary images of the book's cover, showing Blair in an open-neck shirt, were released. In July, the memoir was retitled as A Journey; one publishing expert speculated that it was changed to make Blair appear "less messianic". The publisher did not give any reason. It was announced the book would be published by Knopf in the United States and Canada under the title A Journey: My Political Life; and in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India by Random House. It was also released as an audiobook, read by Blair, available for download and on 13 compact discs with a playing time of 16 hours.Tony Blair A Journey audiobook on at Toronto Public Library. Retrieved 9 March 2014 The book was published in the United Kingdom on 1 September.
Before the launch, Blair announced that he would give the £4.6-million advance and all royalties from his memoirs to a sports centre for injured soldiers. In an interview with Jonathon Gatehouse, he conceded, "You wouldn't be human if you didn't feel both a sense of responsibility and a deep sadness for those who have lost their lives. That responsibility stays with me now, and will stay with me for the rest of my life. You know, I came to office as prime minister in 1997, focusing on domestic policy and ended up in four conflicts – Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. And it does change you, and so it should." BBC political correspondent Norman Smith said Blair's severest critics would see the donation as "guilt money" for taking the UK to war against Iraq in 2003. The father of a soldier killed there decried the donation as "blood money", while the father of another serviceman who died said Blair had a "guilty conscience." A spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition supported the donation, but added, "No proportion of Tony Blair's massive and ill-gotten fortune can buy him innocence or forgiveness. He took this country to war on a series of lies against the best legal advice and in defiance of majority opinion." A spokesman for Blair said that it had long been his intention to give the money to a charity; he added aiding soldiers undergoing rehabilitation at the Battle Back Challenge Centre was "his way of honouring their courage and sacrifice." The announcement was welcomed by Chris Simpkins, director general of the Royal British Legion, who said, "Mr Blair's generosity is much appreciated and will help us to make a real and lasting difference to the lives of hundreds of injured personnel."
Synopsis
A Journey covers Blair's time as leader of the Labour Party and then British prime minister following his party's victory at the 1997 general election. His tenure as Labour leader begins in 1994 following the death of his predecessor, John Smith, an event Blair claims to have had a premonition about a month before Smith died. Blair believes he will succeed Smith as Labour leader rather than Gordon Brown, who is a strong contender for the job. Blair and Brown subsequently reach an agreement whereby Brown will not run against Blair for the position, and will succeed him later. But it leads to a difficult working relationship, which is discussed at length. He likens them both to "a couple who loved each other, arguing over whose career should come first." To him, Brown is a "strange guy" with "zero" emotional intelligence.
Having been elected as leader, Blair moved the Labour Party to the political centre ground, repackaging it as "New Labour", and went on to win the 1997 general election in a landslide. Blair recounts that at his first meeting with Queen Elizabeth II following his election as prime minister, the Queen told him, "You are my tenth prime minister. The first was Winston (Churchill). That was before you were born." Months after his government is appointed, they must deal with the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and following the princess's funeral, Elizabeth II tells Blair that lessons must be learned from the way things have been handled. Social occasions with the Queen are also recalled, including a gathering at Balmoral Castle where Prince Philip is described manning the barbecue while Elizabeth II dons a pair of rubber gloves to wash up afterwards.
From the outset Blair's government played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process; in the book Blair admits to using "a certain amount of creative ambiguity" to secure an agreement, claiming the process would not have succeeded otherwise. He says that he stretched the truth "on occasions past breaking point" in the run-up to the 2007 power-sharing deal which enabled the return of devolved legislative powers from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Executive. Both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin are praised for the part they played in the peace process.
A dominant theme of the latter part of Blair's time in office was his decision to join US President George W. Bush in committing troops to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the aftermath of which he describes as a "nightmare", but that he believes to have been necessary because Saddam Hussein "had not abandoned the strategy of WMD [weapons of mass destruction], merely made a tactical decision to put it into abeyance". He would make the same decision again with regard to Iran, warning that if that country develops nuclear weapons it will change the balance of power of the Middle East, to the region's detriment. Blair believes some problems in Iraq still require a "resolution" and will fester if left unattended. Of the war dead he says, "I feel desperately sorry for them, sorry for the lives cut short, sorry for the families whose bereavement is made worse by the controversy over why their loved ones died, sorry for the utterly unfair selection that the loss should be theirs." A year on from the invasion he hoped Bush will win a second term as US President: "I had come to like and admire George," he writes.
In 2003, Blair promised his Chancellor, Gordon Brown, that he would resign before the next general election, but later changed his mind. According to Blair, Brown subsequently attempted to blackmail him, threatening to call for a Labour Party inquiry into the 2005 Cash for Honours affair during an argument over pension policy. Brown succeeded Blair as Labour Party leader and prime minister in 2007. While Blair praises Brown as a good Chancellor and a committed public servant, he believes Brown's decision to abandon the New Labour policies of the Blair years led to the party's 2010 election defeat. However, Blair adds that Brown was right to restructure British banks and introduce an economic stimulus after the 2008 financial crisis.
The book closes with a final chapter offering a critique of Labour Party policy, and discusses its future. Blair warns Brown's successor that if Labour is to remain electable they should continue pursuing New Labour's policies rather than return to the left-wing policies of the 1980s: "I won three elections. Up to then, Labour had never even won two successive full terms. The longest Labour government had lasted six years. This lasted 13. It could have gone on longer, had it not abandoned New Labour."
Publication Within hours of its launch, A Journey became the fastest-selling autobiography of all time at bookseller Waterstones, where it sold more copies in one day than Peter Mandelson's The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour had done in its first three weeks earlier that year. It debuted at the top of Amazon.co.uk's British best-seller list. Within a week, Nielsen BookScan said that 92,000 copies of A Journey had been sold in the United Kingdom, the best opening week for an autobiography since the company began keeping figures in 1998. The New York Times reported that in the United States, an initial print run of 50,000 copies had been extended by another 25,000, with the book set to debut at number three on The New York Times hardcover best-seller list. Andrew Lake, Waterstones' political buyer, said, "Nothing can compare to the level of interest shown in this book. You have to look at hugely successful fiction authors such as Dan Brown or JK Rowling to find books that have sold more quickly on their first day. Mandelson may remain the prince but Blair has reclaimed his title as king, certainly in terms of book sales."