Blair at Leveson

Today former Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared at Leveson Inquiry. It was interesting to watch Blair being questioned on his relationship with the press, but on the whole nothing scandalous or shocking was revealed. Probably the most shocking part was when a protester entered the courtroom and started to accuse Blair of war crimes. The protester was quickly removed from the courtroom and not seen again.

Blair claimed that he did not do a deal with the Murdochs to get power and once in power went against the Murdochs’ wishes more times than he went along with them and claimed that there was nothing out of the ordinary about phoning Rupert Murdoch in the ten days before the Iraq War in 2003. He claimed that he had problems with the Daily Mail, calling it a “personal vendetta” as it frequently attacked his family, particularly Cherie, and he found that difficult to deal with. Blair said he did not believe the attacks on his family were “real journalism”. Blair told the Inquiry that between 2006 and 2011 his family lawyers had sent 30 letters of complaint to the Daily Mail concerning stories about Cherie.

“The Daily Mail… have attacked me, my family, my children, those people associated with me, day in, day out. Not merely when I was in office but subsequent to it as well. They do it very well, very effective. It’s very powerful.”

When asked about why he didn’t tackle the press Blair said he would be unable to do so as it would have opened up the wrath of the press and attempting to tackle the power of the press would have taken up a sizeable portion of government time and side-lined other, more important issues.

“My view is, and I think it’s still my view actually, that you would have had to clear the desk, this would have been an absolute major confrontation. You would have had virtually every part of the media against you in doing it. And I felt that the price you would pay for that would push out a lot of the things I cared more about.” He said it would be “A long, protracted battle that will shove everything else to the side”

Although he acknowledges the political difficulties of doing so he says that now is the time to tackle the press, in the wake of the hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry it would be possible and the public would be prepared to listen. Blair has urged politicians across the board to support Cameron if he tried to tackle the press as he cannot be left alone to do this.

Blair at the Leveson Inquiry yesterday