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Blair exclusive interview
SITTING in a backstage dressing room prior to delivering the sixth annual South Shields Lecture at the Customs House, in front of a mirror surrounded by lightbulbs, Tony Blair sat relaxed but alert.
It was an ironic setting in which to meet the former Prime Minister, so often branded an actor by his one-time opponents.
The Shields Gazette was the only newspaper to be granted an interview with Mr Blair, now a Middle East peace envoy, but I was far from alone.
As security staff buzzed around him, South Shields MP David Miliband leaned against the wall behind me, silently looking on.
"He's stood behind me like a mobster," I said. "Mobster Miliband – there's your headline," Mr Blair shot back.
But in a flash, he was serious again, speaking about the vocal anti-Iraq war protesters assembled outside. He admitted that the anti-war lobby could follow him for the rest of his life.
"I've got no idea how long this will go on for. It could be for ever," he said. "I guess that as long as their protests are within the law, then that's their democratic right."
Things didn't need to be this confrontational for him. The rest of his life could have been spent on a golf course or relaxing abroad.
Instead, he took on the daunting role of Middle East peace envoy the day after leaving 10 Downing Street.
"It's not the same as before," he said. "As Prime Minister, I'd wake up and have 15 different decisions to make, but that's gone now.
"I pick and choose what to do these days, but in terms of the hours I work, it's probably the same as when I was in office."
Commentators may say that Mr Blair was hounded out of office by a baying Gordon Brown, but when asked directly whether June was the right time to leave office, he gives a rare one-word answer: "Yes."
In the flesh, the 54-year-old looks 10 years younger than most men of his age, but it's a miracle he hasn't developed frown lines as the mere mention of a touchy subject causes him to flinch.
The subject of the police's cash for honours inquiry came up.
"Oh yeah, that," he said, looking up nervously at Mr Miliband.
Did he feel any anger that it wrongly hung over him during his final days in office?
He said: "Let's move on. I'm a great believer in moving on. We should just move on from that. I don't like raking over the past and having regrets – life's too short."
The black cloud of the investigation caused him not to issue a resignation honours list, making him the first Prime Minister in history not to do so.
I asked him if, now that the Government had been cleared, he would finally produce such a list.
Mr Blair was visibly annoyed. Mr Miliband let out a muffled groan.
"That's the last thing on my mind," the former Prime Minister fired back.
The chemistry between Mr Blair and Mr Miliband was evident. They're very comfortable in each other's company, and bounce off each other when they talk.
Did Mr Blair ever think that the South Shields MP would be his natural heir?
He glanced up at the Foreign Secretary again, asking: "Shall I answer that?" Mr Miliband nodded cautiously with his eyes closed.
"I'm very proud of him. It's a great achievement to become Foreign Secretary, but it's down to David to decide that, not me," replied Mr Blair.
Recalling his car journey into South Shields, he said regeneration in North East England has turned our towns into "world-class areas" with challenges ahead.
He ended by answering that most cliched, but revealing, of questions – what were his finest, and toughest, moments in politics?
He thought about the question for at least 10 seconds before replying: "The Northern Ireland peace agreement was a very great moment for me, but taking the decision to send people into battle will always be the hardest thing to do."
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Weather for South Shields
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South
