Darkside Quotes - Tony Blair

Tony Blair, former UK prime minister

Tony Blair the last Labour Prime Minister of the UK took the country to war under false pretences. His government produced a dossier that supposedly said Saddam Hussein held Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that could be deployed in 45 minutes. The conclusion was he had to be stopped. The UK has ever since been subject of retaliation attacks by Jihadists. 

Blair also saw his electorate make the greatest anti-war protests the UK has seen. He has faced enquiries into why he took the country to war without, as it turns out, any evidence of the presence of WMD's in Iraq. He was called in for questioning twice by police to answer questions about his government taking money for honours i.e. getting a seat in the House of Lords. 

Here are a few select quotes from his three terms in office, which show the range of his media manipulation to suit his purpose.  

"I can't stand politicians who wear God on their sleeves."
7 April, Daily Telegraph. On having been elected prime Minister, 1995

"I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people - and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well."
4 March, when asked by Michael Parkinson on ITV1 what role his Christian faith had in his decision-making over the Iraq war, 2006. Blair converted to Catholicism after leaving office.

"We are not the master now. The people are the masters. We are the servants of the people. We will never forget that."
7 May, addressing Labour MPs at Church House 1997

"I know that this course of action has produced deep divisions of opinion in our country."
21 March, broadcast to the nation after the start of the war, 2003

"I think most people who have dealt with me, think I'm a pretty straight sort of guy and I am."
16, November, BBC's On The Record, during the controversy over a donation to the Labour Party by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, 1997

"On the family, we need two or three eye-catching initiatives that are entirely conventional in terms of their attitude to the family... We need more. I should be personally associated with as much of this as possible."
17 July, leaked Blair memo, 1998 

"A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders. I really do."
8 April, on arriving in Belfast for the talks which produced the Good Friday Agreement, 1998. A process for which the foundations had been laid by Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam and who Blair promptly sidelined, taking all the glory from the historic agreement which helped to consolidate peace in Northern Ireland.