Completed in May 2004, 90% of the book is said to be based on 600 specially conducted interviews with unpublsihed diaries and papers being the next most important source. Seldon calls it a work of contemporary history rather than journalism. Every substantive point gets an endnote. Though some of the interviewees wished to remain annonymous, the full details of the interviews will be deposited in an archive library for future reference.
Though Seldon credits 3 other for working on this book with him, its impressive that Seldon, who is the headmaster of Brighton College, has managed to write or edit some 25 books and shows the usefulness of sabbaticals.
This book contains 20 chronological chapters on key episodes in Blair's life interspersed with chapters on 20 people who influenced him, each with a photograph.
Seldon identifies chapters 10, 20, 30 and 40 on Neil Kinnock, Roy Jenkins, Margaret Thatcher and Gordon Brown as giving the political backbone of the book. He highlights the chapters on Blair winning Sedgefield, the abolition of Clause IV, Kosovo and Iraq as showing Blair at his boldest.
Chapter 34 is on God, and opens thus:
Blair's relationship with God is more important than any other described in
this book because, uniquely, it has coloured his relationship with all other
nineteen figures, and it has affected his response in differing measures to
all twenty turning points. Not only has the relationship been all embracing; it
is also peculiarly hard to understand. His religion explains why he became the
person he did, why he entered politics, why he holds his beliefs, how he relates
to others, and from where he derives much of his inner strength and convictions.
(p515)
I also learnt that:
Wilson (a Congregationalist) is the only previous Labour premier to have
made anything of his faith, proclaiming that he was a socialist "because he was
a Christian". He appointed ten practicing believers to his Cabinet in 1964, and
asked for a service to be organised in the House of Commons chapel after the
1964 General Election to bless the new government (p516)
Matthew d'Ancona, who has written persuasively on the subject of Blair and
religion, sees Blair's religious awakening at Oxford as the defining moment of
his life. (p516)
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2 comments:
Two terrible ironies:
1) Blair this week setting out his theory that religious faith should be an important part of political life. Whenever anyone says this, it is conceding the ground that "religious faith" is somehow a part of public life, rather than the whole of it. Let's reclaim the fact that everyone, even the secular humanist, does all things according to his faith.
2) Now that he has come out of the closet as an RC, it is difficult to see how Blair's faith had any great influence on his premiership (viz. homosexual rights and adoption, religious hatred laws, embryo research, Iraq, etc, etc, etc)!
Yes, though credit where credit's due, I wouldn't expect Blair or indeed most theologians to grasp point (1).
Equally worrying is what does Blair mean by religion and faith and the fact that unity and pragmatism are much more important to him than what he would call dogma (read truth).
I think (2) is quite stunning. Blair is obviously a very liberal RC with un Catholic ideas of authority.
The Iraq point is especially amazing. On the eve of going into Iraq Blair had an audience with God's representative on earth (as TB would supposedly see it) who urged him not to do it. Blair had supposed that the contents of their discussion would be private but the Vatican informed the media.
Seldon points out that when Blair had made up his mind he never allowed Carey, Hume or JP the whatever to change it.
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