The Staggers: Tony Blair

Tony Blair is back. After a long break from domestic politics, the former prime minister has met with Labour MPs to offer his advice on how to win the next election.

One can guess Blair's views on the subject, and indeed, the Financial Times reports this morning that he told the seven MPs that Labour should stay firmly in the centre ground and build closer relationships ... read more

It could have been straight out of a Cold War spy thriller: the claim that British agents had hidden a transmitter inside a fake rock left on a Moscow Street.

Now, Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair, has admitted that the 2006 allegations were true. Appearing in a BBC documentary series, Putin, Russia and the West, he said:

The spy rock was embarrassing. They had us bang to rights. ... read more

Tony Blair has sparred with John Humphrys over his prime ministerial record.

The BBC Today interviewer asked Blair whether he believed the "war on terror" had been won. "We've achieved significant results . . . but I don't think this is over," he replied. I think the radical Islamism which gave rise to this terrorist group is still with us, still powerful."

In a wide-ranging 28-minute interview, taking in Iran, extraordinary rendition ... read more

It looks like Tony Blair is up to his old tricks. The former prime minister has given an interview to the Times (£) to mark the ten-year anniversary of the attacks of 11 September 2001, which kick-started the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he expresses no regret for the countless lives lost, or his responsibility for the shortsightedness that led Britain into a ... read more

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It looks like Tony Blair is even closer to Rupert Murdoch than anyone imagined. This morning it emerged that Blair is godfather to Murdoch's nine-year-old daughter, Grace, the second youngest of his six children. The secret was divulged by Wendi Deng in an interview in the October edition of Vogue. The magazine reports that Blair, who Deng described as one of ... read more

Tony Blair makes a rather thoughtful contribution in today's Observer to the debate about the riots that began two weekends ago in Tottenham in north London. Those who suspected his populist instincts would lead him to endorse the response of the law-and-order right to the disorder (that it was a matter of "sheer criminality") will, I suspect, be surprised. "We are in danger," he writes, ... read more

Tony Blair has been talking at length about the phone hacking scandal and the Murdochs for the first time since the Milly Dowler story broke. Appearing at a joint press conference with Australian prime minister Julia Gillard in Murdoch's homeland, Blair was asked if he thought "the Murdochs themselves should be held responsible."

He replied:

Look, I think there's going to be several inquiries that are underway ... read more

Tony Blair used to joke: "This has been my worst week until the next one." But after Ed Miliband's worst week since he became Labour leader, Blair does Miliband few favours in his interview in today's Sun.

The former prime minister offers his clearest endorsement yet of the coalition's public service reforms and implies that Labour under Miliband is "pinned in its ideological past". Blair says: ... read more

According to Mark Townsend and Hannah Olivennes writing in the Observer, David Cameron is set to emerge this week as the victor in a long and "bitter cabinet battle" with Nick Clegg by unveiling a "hardline approach to tackling Islamist extremism". Home Office sources say that Cameron has "quashed Nick Clegg's argument for a more tolerant attitude to Muslim groups" by confirming the analysis he ... read more

In an eerie twist of fate, yesterday marked eight years since Tony Blair delivered his eve-of-war address to the House of Commons on Iraq. David Cameron's calm and resolute statement on Libya has already attracted similar plaudits.

In an op-ed piece for today's Times (£), the former prime minister gives Cameron his blessing.

He writes:

[T]he decision to impose a no-fly zone and ... read more

Tony Blair has been giving evidence again at the Iraq inquiry for just over an hour, and the most revealing moment came when he was asked about the cabinet's fears ahead of the war.

He replied that, as members of "the most successful centre-left government in the world", ministers were most concerned by the prospect of an alliance with a "right-wing conservative Republican president". One likes to imagine that other concerns ... read more