Tony Blair’s Evening Standard Interview – the highlights

Tony Blair is guest editing the Evening Standard today, to mark the five year anniversary of him stepping down as PM. As part of that, he’s been interviewed by the paper’s editor Sarah Sands. Here are some of the stand out quotes from that interview.

On his departure five years ago:

“It was very strange because I had been preparing to go ever since I was forced out because of the events of the previous September, so in one way I didn’t want to go but I felt that I had to. The only choice would have been to have fought a very bloody battle internally which I thought would damage the country as well as the party.”

On Labour in government post-Blair:

“The problem for the Labour party was that it couldn’t make up its mind whether to stay New Labour or not, so it didn’t really and then in my view defeat was inevitable after that.”

On Ed Miliband’s leadership:

“Ed Miliband has made a conscious decision that he is going to keep the Labour party in the centre, and that is sensible.” 

On the role of Prime Minister:

“The problem with being prime minister is that you have to deal with everything that comes across your desk. I spent six months dealing with foot and mouth disease. It wasn’t a motivating life purpose, it just had to be done.”