believe some new progressive labour party is a better idea than what new labour was personifyed by tony blairand you. >> no, because what tony and i tried to do was to adjust the labour party to the times that we faced then. and it's really a continuation of the argument i put right at the beginning. this is a new world, charlie. you know, we've not seen the rise of asia so dominant until now. and equally we haven't seen the next stage,s chs the rise of this consuming power in asia which is our opportunity industrially. so britain will be different in ten year's time. so will america, so will the rest of europe as asia also will be different. and i think you need a party that can understand what's happening around the world. the need for global and international cooperation. the need for free trade and not protectionism. the need for markets to be underpinned by ethical values. >> rose: and do you believe that's an outgrowth of the policies of new labour... >> yes, it is. >> rose:... when tony blair was prime minister, you were chancellor and then you were p.m.? >> yes, but if i say that it's

tony blair and mr. christopher hitchins. [cheers and applause] [applause] tony blair was the prime minister of the united kingdom from 1997 until 2007. among his many international roles today, he is a representative in the middle east, working with the u.n., the u.s., russia, and the eu to try to secure a lasting peace in the region. after leaving politics, mr blair converted to catholicism and launched a global initiative, a foundation, to promote respect and understanding among the world's great religions. many of us in this room have read his recent best-selling memoir, "a journey of my political life." kirsten hithins is an author, journalist, an atheist. his regular "vanity fair and" riding is central reading for anyone and anyone concerned about global affairs. christopher has a number of best-selling books, too. obviously, "god is not great." in his recently published memoir. he was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and as such, we are doubly grateful that he and his family are here tonight. >> let me briefl

tony blair is the special envoy for the quartet on the middle east. he's in the united states to address the 2010 saban forum hosted by the brookings institution. mr. prime minister, it goes on and on. now the obama administration has made a decision to step back from trying to persuade israel to freeze settlement expansion. you have called that sensible. why? >> because i think we need to find a way forward now that gives both parties confidence that we can have a negotiation that actually succeeds. and in the meantime, we've got to push ahead and create the change on the ground that's going to make a real difference in the lives of palestinians and also provide the israelis with the assurances they require on security. so you know, we've hit an impasse. it's a problem, but we've got to find a way through. >> larry: but that decision, where does it leave efforts for peace talks? it sounds status quo again. >> well, i think that there's still a lot that's going to go on. one of the interesting things that's happening in the middle east right now and i

former prime minister tony blair is raking in tens of millions of dollars from the monarchs in the derivative will there say enabled that or it's corrupt regime here in britain is anyone but the daily mail even interested in this tony blair shimada corruption it's even more worrying that room below. the heiress would seem to relish that he was a poor man many years before. the fee americans were to use his wife was that you know i think people just seem to ignore it just shows that people can get away with it he continues to be middle east only boy i wonder what sort of in the coming year what we're going to witness in the occupied territories as tony blair wanders around the earth trying to piece that reach right now you mention the roman polanski film that came out at the same time. this scandal when clancy was held by the swiss authorities during a point in time when that film was coming out that all of those real recent altered me yeah exactly the timing was suspect and now we've got of course the julian assad wiki leaks story where you know last year i was watching a vi

so this is a headline where they actually say morgan stanley but in fact tony blair and still working three g. p. morgan as a senior advisor. and this is from the daily mail they're saying that kuwaiti sources have told them that the former prime minister with the forty two point five million dollars this year for advising the government of kuwait last year he meets six hundred forty thousand dollars as the u.n. peace envoy to the middle east paid primarily by british taxpayers and you speak three point two million by j.p. morgan no blood for oil tony of arabia if you do the math there forty three million dollars of memory was responsible in large part for committing genocide. iraqi murdered a million innocent civilians in iraq that's about two cents per life of iraqi so the iraqi life to tony blair for about two cents a piece he cashed in on that made forty three million dollars good by tony blair and of course you don't pay any of that taxes any government now just keep it sheltered offshore somewhere to pay for your smack bill and so finally max we're moving and we mentioned greece

about two cents a piece he cashed in on that made forty three million dollars good boy tony blair and of course you don't pay any of that taxes any government you just keep it sheltered offshore somewhere to pay for your smack bill and so finally max we're moving and we mentioned greece and ireland it was mentioned that many times in the last year. and there are you're seeing emerge a theme that we've often talked about and that is that things are actually a lot worse than what officialdom says that you're going to see a trickle a constant trickle of more and more bad news and we see that his final few headlines first bloomberg sues e.c. be forced exclusion or of how greece's swaps deficit so according to the suit bloomberg is alleging that the dose should be disclosed to stop governments from employing the derivatives in a similar way again and to show how e.u. authorities acted on information they had on swaps e.c.v. president john clutch leash a withheld the documents after the e.u. and international monetary fund led a one hundred ten billion euro bailout for greece the dossier sh

i felt tony blair could do that in a way that was strategic in thought. i believe that the heads of state need to be strategic in their thought and have a long term view of issues. tony had that view. >> you had have a few debates with mrs. blair. >> yeah, one on the death penalty. probably lost. i made it clear. he was objecting to my position when i was governor of texas supporting the death penalty, and as president for that matter. i happen to believe if justice is fair and swift, the death penalty saves lives. she didn't agree. >> you were reelected with the majority of the vote in the first time in 16 years that a presidential nominee got a majority of the popular vote. you had political capital. you went in on the social security issue first and only later in 2006 pushed for changes in the immigration laws. those were not successful. what have you learned? >> if i had to do it over again, i probably would have ran the immigration plan first. and then i -- but i didn't. so i -- i pushed social security hard. the truth of the matter the congress didn'

opportunity to organize today's event, in partnership with the african governance initiatives, which tony blairfounded and leads, and which you'll hear more about shortly. during his tenure as the prime minister of great britain, tony push the issue of developments and the well being of africa in particular. as we know, western leaders had done before or indeed before. in his new book, a journey, my political life, he explains his commitment quoting from a speech he gave soon after the terrorist attacks of september 11, 21 -- 2001. .. >> they were the winner of cgd's first annual commitment to development award in 2003. another lasting legacy of tony blair's tenure is the stern review of the economics of climate change by economists nicholas stern. commissioned by the british government it is the largest, most widely discussed report of its kind. it shows that benefits of strong early action on climate change massively can outweigh the costs. in office tony blair championed the findings and since leaving the office he has launched an international initiative aimed at breaking the climate deadlo

, tony blair talks about him, during the campaign he received invitations to campaign around the country those but would not be caught dead standing around with the media could not get enough and that the colt named to the most popular president in history you. really? although one man who was fatigue after his presidency because the public was exhausted by him and also gennifer flowers scandal when year before he began and he made a fool of himself only two years ago. fact bill clinton? what is going on? of the '90s for the last years in which you could say it work to the stock market's sky-high and bin laden was new to few outside our national security and give government was effectively serving through january 2001 when a hobbled president left office, and no one cared. their belly was full and houses was a gold mine in the cold war had been did come american troops were not going on foreign shores and even the majestic home run records of simi sosa and mark mcguire had not been cheapened by our knowledge of chemicals propelling the ball over the fence. the years of bill clinton presi

tony blair tended to support the americans because he was sure it was the right thing to do. the rest of the labor party was not persuaded of that. most of them took the view britain as an engine partner of the united states, has to support united states. >> if you are a conservative member of parliament, where you stand on the vat tax. >> they are in favor of the vat. tories do not like capital gains taxes because they are a business minded party. they are not that keen on income tax because they represent a lot of people that pay income tax. >> what about the liberal party members? are they for the vat tax? >> they have been for and against it at different times. >> what about the labor party? >> anybody that is in government or wants to be in government has to have a sneaking regard for the vat tax because it is an easy way of raising money and is a very difficult tax to avoid. >> if you live here, when will all of these new cuts come along and if they do come along, when will we see change if you live here? >> generally speaking, new money will not be allocated to people

we heard from the former british prime minister tony blair called mr. holbrooke are remarkable man who had done lots of work for a more peaceful world. >> what sort of legacy will he leave amongst the political community in washington? >> i think we heard the statement by mrs. clinton in particular. the legacy of his historic role that he played. she describe id the peace accors that ended the war in bosnia. he managed to bring warring leaders to the table. more recently, there was his role as president obama's envoy in afghanistan and pakistan. many will be asking the question who is to succeed him in the time when the u.s. is pushing to stabilize the situation in afghanistan and perhaps a transfer of more afghan troops forces involved in the fighting. >> i spoke earlier to the pakistani ambassador to the united states to was a close friend of richard holbrooke and met with him a few days ago. >> we had breakfast on thursday. the day before he was admitted to hospital. we were very close. we spoke frequently. i will remember him as a great diplomat who

tony blair and mr. christopher chens. [applause] >> tony blair was the prime minister of united kingdom from 1997-2007. among his many international roles today, he is the quartet representative in the middle east working with the un, the u.s., russia, and the use to try to secure a lasting peace in the region. after leaving politics, mr. blair converted to catholicism and eight launched the tony blair quake foundation, a global initiative to promote respect and understanding among the world's major religions. many of us in this room have read his recent best-selling memoir, "a journey, my political life." christopher it is a british-born american, author, journalist, and atheist. his regular vanity fair column is prolific, speeches and essays, are essential reading for anyone and everyone concerned about global affairs. christopher has a number of best-selling books, too. " god is not a great" as one of them and his recently published memoir. christopher was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer and we are doubly gra

tony blair tended to support the americans because he was sure it was the right thing to do. he wants to do it even if he was on his own, if he had the troops. the rest of the labor party was not persuaded of that. most of them took the view britain as an engine partner of -- as an agent partner the united states, has to support united states. >> if you are a conservative member of parliament, where you stand on the vat tax. do you want to increase it from 17.5% to 20%? >> they are in favor of the vat. it is a regressive form of taxation, and that it hits the poor and rich almost as hard. tories do not like capital gains taxes because they are a business minded party. they are not that keen on income tax because they represent a lot of people that pay income tax. value-added tax is seen as a verifiable way -- as a very reliable way of paying what margaret thatcher -- without hitting when margaret thatcher called "are people." >> what about the liberal party members? are they for the vat tax? >> they have been for and against it at different times. >> what about the labor part

britain's former prime minister tony blair has been called to give more evident in the official inquiry in london over the country's role in the iraq war. the chief palestinian negotiator is to head to washington, a sign that the peace process is in deep trouble. others have called for in into the talks because of israel's refusal to stop building in the west bank. we have this. >> building work continues in the still huge settlements in the occupied west bank. the americans have been trying hard to get israel to agree to a freeze on construction. it even offered israel a the most advanced fighter jets and in the world for free. it did not work. in the middle east peace process is once again deadlocked. israel has confirmed direct peace talks with the palestinians. >> we will continue our efforts to achieve this historic agreement with the palestinians, an agreement that brokers at a genuine reconciliation between the two people. we believe is possible to reconcile while protecting israel's vital national and security interests. >> but the palestinians say israel has rejected peace. the

then tony blair and christopher hichens. >> this week, a look at the american and british forms of government from our recent interviews in london. this program compares and contrasts the parliamentary government with our own. >> it is a lot of different things and it is also something to do with the political culture. it may soon treacherous to our media colleagues over here. i think the discussion of the critical issues is somewhat more dominated by policy rather than treating the minutia of washington life. hear, which are bound up with winslet -- with westminster stories. in terms of the politicians, the politicians in the uk do talk about the issues, probably more than the politicians in the u.s. by was struck by that. the politicians are caught by a super level issue of discourse because they're worried about the money-raising. it does not happen so much here in the u.k. >> here, and explain the difference. david cameron is the prime minister and he has proposed all these cuts. will you get all these cuts? >> pretty automatically. and the british people who follow british politics think

on what happened during the blair years, what is the difference, what the tories could do when tony blairas in charge versus what the republicans can do in the united states when they were not in charge? >> what happened in our time, we inherited -- we left for the other government a very prosperous economy. they held the line for a bit. then something went wrong with spending. we criticize them pretty roundly at the time. you're not mending the roof when the sun is shining. and when it rains, we'll get wet. that is what happened. it is much more difficult now, starting from a difficult position and to get back into the economy. i do not know if i am fair about this. but there is one thing which i have noticed about politicians. if they will lose in the vote because they do not have a majority, they can say some pretty outrageous things in terms of criticizing their opponents, knowing that their opponents will get the thing through anyway and they want to be on the safe ground of criticizing so that they can be ready in the years to come to say that this did no work and that did no work a

. >> tony blair has been recalled to give more evidence to the official inquiry into the country's role in the iraq war. the chairman of the inquiry said there are areas that need more clarification. you are watching "bbc news". the headlines this hour. supporters of the wikileaks web site have been launching a series of cyber attacks on companies they say are colluding with the u.s. government. a fire has killed more than 80 inmates at a prison in chile. the british deputy prime minister nick clegg has denied that his party is facing a crisis over the coalition's proposals to raise university tuition fees. some members have said they will oppose the plan when they vote on the issue on thursday. our political correspondent reports. >> 24 hours left for all sides to make their case before the vote on tuition fees. this man has been struggling to hold the liberal democrats together. the prime minister stepped in to make the case in back of his coalition partner. students way to find out how much university education will cost and the labor leader accuses ministers of betraying young peopl

there he is talking about tony blair. tony blair talking about him. during the campaign he received invitations from politicians around the country who will not be caught dead standing next to our current president, barack obama. all of this just weeks after the celebrity media could not get enough of his daughter's wedding in a poll came out not long ago pronouncing him the most popular politician in america. bill clinton. really. one of two american presidents to be impeached. a man whose last name is linked with the word fatigued to describe the country's exhaustion with him. the man who made a fool of himself during his wife's campaign for the white house only two years ago. that bill clinton. what's calling on? for one thing, the 90's with the last years in which the country could be said to have worked. unemployment was low. the stock market was high. osama bin laden was known to few outside our nation's security apparatus. if the government was effectively disabled from january 1998 when the name monica listee surfaced to january 2001 when they

i think that to be fair, i think that tony blair and his people came in hoping and thinking they could do the right thing. but they -- and they held the line for a bit but gradually they spent too much money on too many schemes, and they really didn't see that they got value for money for it. so we are running now a massive financial deficit on our public accounts. and that's going to be very painful to get back and straight. and what we have to do is to persuade people it's going to be worthwhile at the end of the day and that the growth will come back into the economy. i think it will. but it will take a bit of time. >> i am sure you've watched what's happening in the united states over the last few years with the republicans basically saying no for the last four years or two years during barack obama's term, no to everything, on purpose and now they're about to get the house of representatives back. looking back on what happened during the blare years here, what's the difference what the tories could do when tony blair was in charge versus what the republicans can do in the united s

prime minister, tony blair. thanks for joining us today. we're all looking forward very much to your remarks. >> global development was and now the center that's become a world leader in the development space. thanks for the remarks on my name and my time. i actually remember when we first set up for international development and we did set it up as an independent department, but my goodness, it was. which is maybe why some of the other leaders find it a little hard. but alone just from time-to-time, it was let's say challenging and often rightly. it's very independent and i did allow it to be groundbreaking in a way i don't think it would have been otherwise. i'll tell you more about that when i get into my remarks. what i'm going to do is speak for roughly 20 minutes and then we're going to do 20 minute question and answer and to describe it and set it in the context of where i think the development debate is in the world today. this is absolutely the right moment for a debate about development and there's no organization better to be doi

first up tonight, a conversation with gordon brown, the man who succeeded tony blair. he has a new text about how we can overcome the economic crisis. also our preview of our next installment of our primetime series "tavis smiley reports." it airs december 29 and focuses on one of music's biggest new stars, dudamel. he is leading a movement to bring classical music and education to a new generation. we're glad you can join us. our conversation with former british prime minister gordon brown coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles. >> and from contributions to your pbs station from veers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: gordon brown is, of course, the former prime minister of great britain whose public service includes

but going back to the quartet role i would like to ask you about tony blair's role in the quartet the latest wiki leaks publications and avoid him do you think he should be replaced. i think that as the quartet special envoy he's carrying out a very important mission which primarily concerns assistance in finding a solution to the economic and social aspects of the situation in the palestinian territories well i think we should assess the effectiveness of his mission by the final result and his activities in the aforesaid directions and the assessment should be made by all the parties in the quartet that either take part in it or have a direct interest in the quartet's work. but some of the sort of the united states and the european union have recently adopted a new pact of sanctions against iran do you think that iran is in fact taking steps to bring the position closer to the u.s. special envoy george mitchell has recently made a trip to the region the members of the quartet and russia in particular i don't form the americans about the latest progress in the region did george mitche