Restrained applause rippled across the hall in London on 18 February when Tony Blair proferred advice to Britain’s Labour party as it celebrated its 120th anniversary. Although Blair’s last term as prime minister ended in 2007, having won three elections as leader of the Labour Party, he is little celebrated amongst its members.
This luke-warm reception for his remarks on identity politics and how the party could regain power compounded the sense of Blair’s marginalization from British politics.
He looked frustrated and powerless as the Labour Party swung to the left and the country voted, by a narrow margin, to leave the European Union. Both were a repudiation of Blair’s centrist European credo.
Unlike other departing prime ministers, Blair declined the usual honours – elevation to the House of Lords and a clutch of non-executive directorships from grateful companies.
Blair’s ambition
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