Tony Blair Quotes
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I do not want to end up with an American style of politics, with us going out there beating our chest about our faith. Politics and religion - it is not that they do not have a lot in common, but if [religion] ends up being used in the political process, I think that is a bit unhealthy.
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The jolt that Tony Blair received 35,000ft above the Pacific Ocean was not normal turbulence.
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Real integrity means an answer. It doesn't just mean - it doesn't mean riding the anger. And this is very difficult to do.
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Immigration was probably the driving thing behind Brexit.
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The free enterprise system has not failed; the financial system has failed.
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I'm one of these people that, once you have had your election and you have elected your candidate, let's see what actually happens.
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Do I know I'm right? Judgements aren't the same as facts. Instinct is not science. I'm like any other human being as fallible and as capable of being wrong. I only know what I believe.
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I learnt a lot in government, and I've learnt a lot since leaving government. The kind of journey of being in government is that you start at your most popular and least capable, and you end at your most capable and least popular.
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I think the single most important political distinction today is actually between open-minded versus closed-minded, and that's why I think this crosses the boundaries of traditional - center-right and center-left have much more in common with each other right now than the right does with the center-right, and the left does with the center-left.
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The public think the politicians don't know or care about their lives; and the politicians feel misunderstood.
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I had discovered long ago the first lesson of political courage: to think anew. I had then learned the second: to be prepared to lead and to decide. I was now studying the third: how to take the calculated risk. I was going to alienate some people, like it or not. The moment you decide, you divide.
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We promise that the events of 1991 will not happen again. We have pledged to remove Saddam. And we will deliver.
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Retreat might give us a moment of respite but years of repentance at our weakness would, I believe, follow.
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There can be no freedom for Africa without justice; and no justice without declaring war on Africa's poverty, disease and famine with as much vehemence as we remove the tyrant and the terrorist.
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Immigration is good for a country. It brings fresh energy.
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I actually did trouble to read Marx first hand. I found it illuminating in so many ways; in particular, my perception of the relationship between people and the society in which they live was irreversibly altered.
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It's not that tens of millions of people all want to be violent. But they share the worldview that then, at its extreme, gives rise to the violence. And in my view, this is why this is such a global problem.
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Any action taken will be against the terrorist network of Bin Laden.... As for the Taleban, they can surrender the terrorists or face the consequences - and again in any action the aim will be to eliminate their military hardware, cut off their finances, disrupt their supplies, target their troops, not civilians.
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If people in the end think that you can't do something in a way which is acceptable then it won't fly. The only way you get anything like this done is if people think, 'I understand why it is being done.'
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There are two outstanding issues in democratic politics these days. One is the relationship with the media, which is now 24/7, and operates with a completely different intensity than even 15 or 20 years ago. How do we have a proper conversation between leaders and country when it's moderated sometimes in a very partisan and inflammatory way? And the second thing is the effectiveness of our democracy. How do we get the right gene and talent pool in politics?
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September 11 was, and remains, above all an immense human tragedy. But September 11 also posed a momentous and deliberate challenge not just to America but to the world at large. The target of the terrorists was not only New York and Washington but the very values of freedom, tolerance and decency which underpin our way of life.
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Any parent wants the best for their children. I am not going to make a choice for my child on the basis of what is the politically correct thing to do.
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People always think American politics is very different, but usually it is a predictor of what happens in the politics elsewhere.
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The thing always is to go to where people really are and what they're really feeling about life.