Latest updates: PM says Commons will be given a chance to ‘express its view’ on any final deal
British Steel has announced the closure of the coking ovens at its Scunthorpe works with the loss of 260 jobs, my colleague Jasper Jolly reports.
Graeme Wearden has reaction to this on his business live blog.
Continue reading...Labour government received bid to relocate controversial London building before it was rebranded as the O2
The “Swindon Dome” does have a ring to it.
It has emerged Tony Blair’s government received a proposition to move the Millennium Dome – later redeveloped and rebranded as the O2 – to Swindon.
Continue reading...National Archives documents show concerns raised over Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s proposal
Downing Street feared that a group portrait of Tony Blair’s cabinet that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery wanted to commission to mark New Labour’s 1997 election victory would look “triumphalist” and be unlikely to win votes in Scotland, newly released documents reveal.
The gallery proposed a portrait by Peter Howson, a distinguished member of the new wave of expressionist artists who emerged from the Glasgow School of Art in the 80s, and was willing to pay. With the fee likely to be “substantial”, Downing Street aides were also concerned about negative coverage if any public funds were used, the documents released by the National Archives show.
Continue reading...Files show Downing Street felt former South African leader’s attempt to mediate was ‘unlikely to be helpful’
Downing Street believed Nelson Mandela’s attempt to play mediator between it and the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi over the question of compensation after the Lockerbie bombing was “unlikely to be helpful”, documents reveal.
But despite misgivings, No 10 aides did not rule out using Mandela “back against [Gaddafi] if Libya rejected a reasonable offer”, the documents released by the National Archives in the UK show.
Continue reading...Archives reveal PM’s early attempts to establish personal relationship with president after 2000 US election
Tony Blair moved swiftly to place his relationship with George W Bush on a personal footing after the Republican won the 2000 US presidential election, asking him “early on” in their first telephone call if he could call him by his first name.
“Bush warmly assented (but stuck himself with addressing the prime minister as ‘Sir’),” according to a note of their call, which is among government files released to the National Archives. Blair was the first foreign leader to call to congratulate the president-elect. Michael Tatham, a British diplomat, noted that the eight-minute conversation had established “as good a rapport as one could hope for” from such a short call.
Continue reading...Multiverse, founded by son of former PM, is first apprenticeship provider allowed to award degrees
Tony Blair was the prime minister who met his aim of enrolling more than half of all young people in university by this century. Now his son is pioneering a way of awarding degrees with no need for a university at all.
Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, has become the first apprenticeship provider granted a licence to award degrees on the job.
Continue reading...Notes from late 1990s show UK government believed it was due contract in recognition of defence of Kuwait
Tony Blair urged Kuwait to buy the UK’s latest artillery as payback for supporting the country during the Gulf war, newly released papers reveal.
Blair lobbied Crown Prince Sheikh Sa’ad between 1998 and 1999, including calling in on him during a brief stopover on a flight home from South Africa.
Continue reading...Archives reveal David Blunkett voiced concerns about overturning ban on ‘promotion’ of homosexuality
Tony Blair was warned about his government’s commitment to overturning a ban on the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools in the run-up to the 2001 general election, previously classified records show.
David Blunkett, then the education secretary, twice wrote to the prime minister to voice his concerns regarding the furore over section 28. It followed months of debate over potential changes to same-sex education in schools.
Continue reading...Former prime minister warns era of political and economic dominance by west coming to an end
Tony Blair has issued a rallying call to western nations to come together to develop a coherent strategy to counter the rise of China as “the world’s second superpower”.
Delivering the annual Ditchley lecture on Saturday, the former prime minister called for a policy towards Beijing of “strength plus engagement” as he warned the era of western political and economic dominance was coming to an end.
Continue reading...Ex-Labour minister tells Hay festival that the involvement of former leaders in the ‘next phase of politics’ may not be sensible
Ed Balls has said former prime ministers such as Tony Blair and David Cameron should not attempt to return as “figureheads for the next phase of politics”.
The former cabinet minister’s comments addressed Blair’s upcoming Future of Britain conference, which is seen as an attempt to reinvigorate centrist politics in the UK by taking inspiration from the success of La République En Marche, the recently created centre-left party that brought Emmanuel Macron to power in France.
Continue reading...Timeframe last chance to agree peace deal with Russia before conflict escalates, former UK PM says
Tony Blair believes that the next fortnight could be the last chance for the west to agree a peace deal with Russia to end the Ukraine invasion before the conflict escalates.
The former prime minister said that Nato should not rule out intervening in the war but has also called on the west to not give up on the prospect of negotiating a peace deal with Vladimir Putin.
Continue reading...British former PM told Nursultan Nazarbayev to stress he ‘understood’ critics and to say reforms would ‘take time’
The newly knighted Sir Tony Blair is one of several well-paid western advisers who have burnished the image of Kazakhstan’s former ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev and his autocratic regime, now the target of angry protesters.
Narzabayev invited Blair to give him strategic advice after Kazakh security forces shot dead 14 people during the country’s December 2011 anti-government uprising. The protesters in the western oil town of Zhanaozen were demanding higher wages.
Continue reading...Goodbye England’s Rose was included in 1997 service after dean of Westminster urged ‘boldness’
Westminster Abbey originally anticipated that Elton John would sing Your Song at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, rather than Goodbye England’s Rose, his reworking of Candle in the Wind, newly released records show.
An early order-of-service draft included the lyrics of Your Song, although it was mistitled Our Song. A second draft, sent for approval to Buckingham Palace by the dean of Westminster Abbey, Dr Wesley Carr, substituted Candle in the Wind.
Continue reading...When she first took office her fellow leaders included Blair, Chirac and Bush. Three of those at her first G8 summit look back on her legacy
European Commission president, 2004-14
Continue reading...In speech marking 20 years since 9/11 attacks, former British PM warns that non-state actors may turn to bio-terrorism
The west still faces the threat of 9/11-style attacks by radical Islamist groups but this time using bio-terrorism, Tony Blair has warned.
Blair also challenges the US president, Joe Biden, by urging democratic governments not to lose confidence in using military force to defend and export their values.
Continue reading...PM wants to echo Blair’s promise of an ‘opportunity society’ and energise those who feel left behind
Boris Johnson intends to mimic aspects of Tony Blair’s political project in the hope of winning over more voters in former Labour heartlands, Downing Street sources have revealed.
While the Conservatives’ 2019-intake MPs are more likely to model themselves on Margaret Thatcher than the former Labour prime minister, No 10 insiders said Johnson had been studying Blair’s approach.
Continue reading...Blair wrote to then South African leader in 1997 after aides said raising issue at summit in Scotland would be ‘pretty disastrous’
Tony Blair failed in urgent attempts to prevent Nelson Mandela raising the issue of the Lockerbie trial at a Commonwealth summit in Edinburgh, which aides warned would be “pretty disastrous”, previously classified documents reveal.
The Foreign Office, on discovering Mandela was visiting Libya en-route to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Edinburgh in October 1997, warned of a “sensitive situation” if the South African leader spoke out against UK government’s plans to hold the trial of two suspects in Scotland.
Continue reading...Then US leader also turned down Chequers dinner because he wanted to ‘be a tourist’, archives show
Bill Clinton turned down tea with the Queen and dinner at Chequers because he wanted to “be a tourist” and try out an Indian restaurant during his first official visit to the UK with Tony Blair as prime minister, formerly classified documents reveal.
Downing Street wanted to pull out all the stops for a visit seen as crucial to “establishing a good working relationship” between the new prime minister and the then US president. Buckingham Palace contacted No 10 to say “HM the Queen would be very pleased” to invite the Clintons to tea at 5pm on their brief one-day detour from summits in Paris and The Hague.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Delta variant is threat to timetable for England, says Matt Hancock; children aged from 12 in Israel eligible for jab after 55% of adults have had two doses
The US will donate 750,000 vaccine doses to Taiwan, a cross-party delegation of US senators said as they arrived in the country.
AFP report that the high-profile delegation and gift come as Taiwan accuses China of hampering its efforts to secure enough doses as part of Beijing’s ongoing campaign to keep the island isolated.
Morocco will reopen its airports to international traffic starting from 15 June to help the return of its nationals living abroad, the country’s foreign ministry said on Sunday.
Foreign nationals will also be allowed into the country if they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or had a negative PCR test.
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