Quotes from "The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair" Documentary (1/3)

Peter Hyman - Blair's advisor - (on becoming Prime Minister):

"I think he was very daunted, I think he daunted about being prime minister because although he showed huge confidence in public it was a big thing and obviously the majority heightened expectations."

"For him modernisation is the key word, he wanted to take this country which he believed was too stuffy, too rooted in the past, and shake it up and get it ready for the 21st century. So modernisation of the institutions of this country I would say was a driving mission, and embodied in a young leader."

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Stan Greenberg - Blair's Poll advisor - (on announcing Princess Diana's death):

"Princess Diana was very important because it went beyond the political, he was speaking to the nation almost for the first time, beyond his party roles and speaking for the nation, and he captured the moment in which people were grieving and were touched, after that moment he was the leader of special standard."

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Paddy Ashdown - Labour supporter and Liberal member - (on the decision to join the EU and on changing currency):

"There is an amazing paradox in the Blair personality which is on the one hand he shows almost too much moral purpose and further on international affairs and on the other can be really quite pusillanimous when it comes to taking decisions on domestics ones. Time and again, issues he should've confronted early on he failed to do so."

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Neil Kinnock - Labour leader 1983 - 1992 - (on the relationship between Blair and Brown):

"It was awful. Between the two of them were fairly destructive and it never recovered."

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Tim Allen - Deputy Press Secretary - (on the turbulent relationship with Mandleson and Brown):

"When he first became leader the Tories characterized him as Bambi, the idea that he would never be able to take any tough decisions and he was just all fluff. I think the fact that he was able to sack Peter Mandleson twice is evidence that he is incredibly unsentimental and he just does what he thinks to be done."

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David Blunkett (on Blair's war against Kosovan deportation):

"He said that it was the most profound decision any Prime Minister could ever make, any human being could make, because you were making a decision that your heart told you not to do and you had to say "This is the best and only way of saving other lives, thousands of lives"."

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