on a personal note, i want to say how pleased i am to see tony blair and be reunited after a very long hiatus. the progressive policy institute years ago worked closely with prime minister blair and bill clinton and organizing dialogs to really define the main currents of western politics in the late 1990's and how things have changed. the big story in the last decade is this populist revolt against political establishments around the democratic world. some of the first tremors of this search reached us from great britain in 2016 with this unexpected vote pro-brexit. and of course, we in the u.s. felt these tremors in a shocking way, seismically, when donald trump later in the same year took over the republican party and won the presidency. in both cases, it was the working-class voters that moved to the right and they scrambled the old political alignment with the center-right parties competed for power. and then last december, we saw an important national election in britain with anti-jeremy corbyn, working class voters, helped a huge victory there. so what we're seeing is ethnic nat

. >> welcome to this conversation on will the centerleft rise to the challenge along with the tony blair institute we are proud to present today as speech by in a conversation of the quite honorable tony blair former prime minister of great britain on this topic and what the progressives need to do to rise to it. several hundred that was best given the coronavirus spread to cancel the public meeting so we are live streaming today thank you for joining us by live stream and also to c-span and the audience to today's conversation. this is obviously the subject of a state of emergency has been declared in washington and we want to do our part to slow down the spread of this virus but also carry on with business as usual is much as we can. welcome to everybody on a personal note i want to say how pleased i am to see tony blair after being reunited after a long hiatus the progressive policy institute worked closely with president clinton and prime minister blair to organize the dialogue that defined the main currents of western politics in the late 19 nineties. and how things have changed ove

i wanted to hear from the former british prime minister, tony blair.pleasure to have you on. >> thank you. >> so, when you were prime minister you dealt with many health crises, foot-and-mouth disease, sars. what was -- there's a moment when you first are told about this by scientists, and i guess you have to make a decision, are you going to worry about panicking people or are you going to decide this is a national emergency and we have to do everything about it? how do you make that call? >> this is fantastically difficult. and, you know, what i was dealing with was -- was minor compared with this for sure. the one thing i did learn when i dealt particularly -- i spent six months of my premiership dealing with the worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that the world had ever known. that devastated our agriculture sector, not nearly so serious because it didn't affect humans. one thing i learned is you have to bring the best brains in, the best scientists, listen to them. because we were told to do some pretty drastic things that frankly a lot of u

and his support for the very unpopular iraq war but along the way tony blair 13 straight national elections serve the longest tenure of any labor leader in uk history after leaving office a special envoy of the quartet to the middle east also with our partner of today's event this is a great place for analytical and scholarly work that is also implicated and thank you for all your help to make today and with the reelection campaign of donald trump i cannot think ofno a better time how those on the centerleft could restore the culture please come out and let's hear from you tony blair. >> it is great to see you u again such a strange way to do this speech i hope everybody understands the reasons for that and these are troubling times so we have to do it in this way but it reminds me of the very first political speech i ever had to give almost 40 years ago when i was a young aspiring politician i went to address the meeting that held 1500 people in only six people turned up and i always remember in the middle of the speech one of them fell asleep and i remember thinking my political career wa

that we have lived in since 1997, i think the consensus that we have lived in since1997, since tony blairincome taxes, the idea that we can continue to cut local councils and the nhs, that has gone forever. it will be interesting to see what we end up at the other end of this. it makes us reassess our priorities, doesn't it? the financial times, there is a photograph of a temporary hospital that has been set up in the exhibition centre in madrid to cope, to ta ke exhibition centre in madrid to cope, to take patients if the hospitals can't cope. meanwhile tony spain call it for a new marshall plan to try to drive a recovery but we are a long way from that. absolutely and what we have seen in the european union is putting up orders that didn't exist before and there hasn't been enough of the communitarian aspect of the eu that i would have expected to see at this point that shows the scale, that this isn't just an english problem or a british problem, this is the world economy, going to take a massive hit from this. and by the way, that photograph on the front page of the ft. photograph on

i worked for tony blair's government in my thirties, and as a senior adviser to former prime is sir gordon was elected as a member of parliament and served as a government minister in my forties. . i am proud to say all the way through, i was an active member of labour friends of israel. (applause) and i was only one of three and peas, who spoke out against the jay-z p owe a deal with iran. (applause) historically, the labour party has always been steadfast in its support for israel, including under the leadership of tony blair and gordon brown. while there were signs that support might be waiting, it was not until 2015, when obscure backbench member of parliament called jeremy corbyn was elected leader. then everything changed. as soon as the party began to shift, i started speaking out. we're not once, but repeatedly, and consistently. (applause) you see for me, with my background, the values i was brought up with, there was no choice. my parents taught me, prejudice leads to intolerance, and eventually to persecution. that every one of us has a duty not to stand by, but to make a differ

about the time that the the war in iraq the war against terror was being and loves george bush and tony blair to invade iraq so we should activities in the in the protests around. i went right across. germany talking about my experiences. other european countries and i was in scotland when the war began and i remember the students and schoolchildren in scotland were absolutely magnificent they just left their classrooms and held protests and they stopped the traffic on the 4th bridge it was there was a vast march in glasgow of course at the time of us i remember the labor party conference was being held and there's this huge march with it which convened the polling to the labor party conference with the prime minister who was french and council and his own person in the in the conference hall with those hundreds of thousands of people say the bonding that shouldn't be in a name that a right be invaded so you were part of that protest or i. yes i told so been to iraq a few months earlier and which was obviously end of the control of the saddam regime but it was quite clear then that there were

associated with the iraq war back even to the party including having care stop a leading figure once tony blair's head of war propaganda alastair campbell back in the labor party is this opposition party does it understand what you've been saying well i think there are 2 things one has to see about the labor party what is the insurrection on little girl insurrection of the young country and me or bill interim our our as fracture. in my opinion and momentum became exclusively true. if not exclusively 80 percent of it through our low there mick in addition to that also doing a lot of political campaigning political education etc so that the strength of traditional live grewsome which is that the only thing we do which is win the election is now back in falls the left was given a chance the left was defeated not even going to ask him. searching for why the left was. refusing to accept then it was because labor joined him all the parliamentary moorings to prevent a referendum from being implemented to peer starmer let me just say obviously associated according to the un with the persecution of julian

other world leaders were when putin took power jacques chirac in france roeder in germany tony blair in the u.k. bill clinton in the u.s. putin's already served a very long time well naturally that's that's obviously the case but what we should be looking at here is you know putin obviously has his own intentions and his desires are my own profession i know the inside of his head so i won't tell you what those are but we should consider that there is a broader russian elite here and putin and the coterie around him the duma deputies members of the presidential administration etc are facing the same challenge that every authoritarian regime does at some point in history which is how you manage the transition from power because remember automatically it's not just putin putin is the most important character but he's he's not controlling everything we're looking at a constellation of elites. it's business in politics society and whenever you have change you're going to create new coalitions of winners and losers so while some people might improve their position from a succession to a po

he is like tony blair, saying something that is no true and nobody questions it, and i find it remarkablee wonderful washington post pinocchio count. they set all the time. a week from now will be the ninth anniversary of syria's civil war. in idlib, they won't be celebrating. thousands of people have been displaced as syrian troops advance on rebel positions, their way cleared by russian bombardment from the air. after the syrians and the turks clashed with bloody consequences, presidents erdogan and putin negotiated in moscow for six hours and then announced a ceasefire. neither appeared to think it necessary to invite mr assad. alexander, if putin is able to engineer a ceasefire, which isn't holding 100% but better than what's prevailed before, why doesn't he just make the decision that this war needs to end now and use his considerable firepower, his considerable economic power and influence, to bring that about? first of all, i think that putin can't stop this war, because when the russians moved in, basically the assumption was they will be out in about two or three months. that is

when i was at the cbi, you will be getting calls from all from other people than tony blair and i didp then. prime ministers have always had thism terms of what the times is saying, business rates all targeted, a lot of the coverage looking at the number of massive announcements for the short and long—term delivering on what this government says they we re on what this government says they were elected to do and it has been fascinating day because the first time we have seen the concrete measures of the government... the only thing i wish he had done and he never went there is income tax. i would have liked to have seen a cut at the bottom and an increase in income tax at the top and... do you think the conservatives are ready for that? there is only one budget he can do that in and that is the first one. he could have put tax on richer people and given it to the north. soon they may have to face increasing tax changes and also looking at public spending. at the top and, not the bottom. maybe if the virus was not there, it may have been a different budget. the sentencing of harvey wei

announcer: former british prime minister tony blair discussed the rise of populism in the u.k. and the u.s. and the future of progressive politics at george washington university. >> my name is will marshall.

and tony blair had been prime minister for three years. —— cherie.d of things. he could be great fun and play a game and then disappear. i remember talking to someone who said seemed borisjohnson at talking to someone who said seemed boris johnson at the supermarket and marina was carrying the baby and doing the shopping and borisjohnson was on the phone. we have all been in situations like that. kerry symons has a career of her own. you may have to pull his weight when she wa nts to may have to pull his weight when she wants to go back to work. he may well have to pull his weight. in normalfamilies, it well have to pull his weight. in normal families, it is what you want and would expect. of course, been prime minister is not a normaljob. and being a prime minister right now really is not. we reiterate again, we do have the threat of coronavirus right now, we have these serious floods with people ‘s livelihoods and lives in danger, the crunch time of brexit negotiation at the time the baby is due, and we have chaos breaking out at the centre of gove

desperate to get their hands on oil who've been desperate to tie up arms and weapons deals you know tony blair the deal in the desert and at the end of the day if your country has been subjected to economic sanctions and your people are suffering and you see a way out of it then of course a sacrificial lamb will be offered up that's the way that the mcgrath family and many people both the british shelter designed the libyan people see it on 31 years later the question the questions that remain of this case must be unset i think it's pretty obvious that for anybody who's viewed how the british and the americans have acted with regards to the middle east on the i still continues to this day one only needs to look at what's happening in iraq one only needs to see what's happening with iran how. these authorities say these regimes in britain and america deal with that when it comes to you know the profits when it comes to the hands of oil or gas lines were they will be willing to do anything or not that bought the topic not applies to the question of lockerbie ok and indeed britain did support the

bicentennial commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in the presence of then prime minister tony blair and queen elizabeth the 2nd one guest human rights activist toy an a b 2 disrupted the ceremony. certainly. the birth of a little. bit closer to her not for the in the end you would describe her this has been a. better not to listen. to but. what. the. ok what about. the plantation owners and slave traders could not accept losing the hard won caribbean the immensely lucrative driving force behind the rise of global capitalism. at the beginning of the 19th century they sought to thwart the wave of protest in civil society but that time slavery a practice that dated back to the dawn of humanity seemed immoral and to belong to the past britain had understood this before the others and was thus one step ahead of its rivals. it was preparing itself for world domination. by florida. car culture. hair. red. superfood stylish style icon to lead a horse. lifestyle euro. in the light of climate change. for christmas. what's in store for. the months to come for the future. come for 2 major citie

bicentennial commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in the presence of then prime minister tony blair and queen elizabeth the 2nd one guest human rights activists toying at the 2 disrupted the ceremony. certainly. the end of the little. bit. you were not. in the. worst crisis nervous system. the. better not it's still no answer. to. what. the. ok what about. the plantation owners and slave traders could not accept losing the hard won caribbean the immensely lucrative driving force behind the rise of global capitalism. at the beginning of the 19th century they sought to thwart the wave of protest in civil society but that time slavery a practice that dated back to the dawn of humanity seemed immoral and to belong to the past britain had understood this before the others and was thus one step ahead of its rivals. it was preparing itself for world domination. puppet. puppet. small acts who can inspire big changes in the people making it possible to go africa fantastic right. join them as they set out to save the environment learn from one another and work together for a better future for

i remember in the tony blair years, there was real frustration with the civil service and that communicatedhe relationships where there are difficult. yes. i think we have to be careful and may be the civil service does need a shake—up, and that is fine, but you don't go about it by being vicious and a bully. i mean, they are obviously allegations. an allegation she has denied. yes, but we know there is a certain atmosphere within the government, with a number ten and we will talk about one at the other special adviser shortly, who has also made the front pages. so we know there is uncertain certain atmosphere and a way of operating, and that that i suggest, is not the best way to achieve reform that everybody buys into and thinks is a good idea. what you both think of the observer's front page? that has a slightly more manageable sized version of the photo, a bit more flattering than perhaps both of them blowing it up to large. the patel —— priti patel's future in doubt after sir philip rutnam resigns. is it? she was a really close ally to boris johnson and was a passionate campaigner for

bicentennial commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in the presence of then prime minister tony blair and queen elizabeth the 2nd one cast human rights activists toil in a b 2 disrupted the ceremony. written. at the end of the little book i think. you were not available in the end it was just really nervous system. better not to know. what. the. that. was. the plantation owners and slave traders could not accept losing the hard won caribbean the immensely lucrative driving force behind the rise of global capitalism. at the beginning of the 19th century they sought to thwart the wave of protest in civil society by that time slavery a practice that dated back to the dawn of humanity seemed immoral and to belong to the past britain had understood this before the others and was thus one step ahead of its rivals. it was preparing itself for world domination. come. corona and are. canceled. and closed artists livelihoods are under threat. but the crisis is also a catalyst for creativity. in new directions while the arts take in response to lock downs and fears. are just 20 more than. 30 nex

bicentennial commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in the presence of then prime minister tony blair and queen elizabeth the 2nd one cast human rights activist tion at the 2 disrupted the ceremony. was. written. to it a little. bit a little closer to her not the. word describes. the. marriage not that it's. not. perfect but. what. the end. ok what about. the plantation owners and slave traders could not accept losing the hard won caribbean the immensely lucrative driving force behind the rise of global capitalism. at the beginning of the 19th century they sought to thwart the wave of protest in civil society by that time slavery a practice that dated back to the dawn of humanity seemed immoral and to belong to the past britain had understood this before the others and was thus one step ahead of its rivals. it was preparing itself for world domination. come. even if the coronavirus is sending football into a force to break. your head and we will still be bringing you the stars great and small. canada stories english tension surrounding our favorite sports. because we won't let the soc

bicentennial commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in the presence of then prime minister tony blair and queen elizabeth the 2nd one guest human rights activist tion at b. 2 disrupted the ceremony. certain. to it a little. bit. were not followed. you were just trying to discuss. the better not to listen. to. what. the. 6 the. they are. the plantation owners and slave traders could not accept losing the hard won caribbean the immensely lucrative driving force behind the rise of global capitalism. at the beginning of the 19th century they sought to thwart the wave of protest in civil society by that time slavery a practice that dated back to the dawn of humanity seemed immoral and to belong to the past britain had understood this before the others and was thus one step ahead of its rivals. it was preparing itself for world domination. puppet oh. oh. because in the. larger cold. central air conditioners usually huge amount of energy. but the signers in delhi have come up with a new spirit centuries old clips of. life. really believe this. next on t.w. . good shit oh no you may not want

the uk government, and number 11, where the most contentious, would be gore down brown at 11 and tony blair at 10 the flat above number 11 downing street is the larger of the two flats available. so, actually during the blair/brown era, mr. brown and his family took the larger apartment with four bedrooms in number 11 and mr. brown took number 10. i think mr. brown stayed in number 10 when they were prime minister boris johnson still has the flat there. i presume that's where he's self-isolating in terms of the news flow, absolutely, it's been quite devastating. let's be honest about it, over the last few days. on friday, 578 mortalities in the united kingdom that lept over the weekend to 1 icti -- 1,228. dr. harris was talking about the large number of deaths in recent weeks being pretty much as expected she also talked about the uk being in for the long haul listen in. >> over time, probably over the next six months, we will have a three-week review. we'll see where we're going. we need to keep that lid on and then gradually we will be able to hopefully adjust some of the social distancin

if there were a hold up, he might telephone his friend pray minister tony blair at 10 downing street. those in the relevant offices in and near london did not want the rocket from 10 downing street. since by definition the records in question were at least half a century old, the highly unusual rapidity of the agreement to be declassified was unlikely to cause any real problems for british security. an important byproduct of the declassification of american intelligence records was the publication of books by richard brightman and others about the postwar american recruitment of nazis. some with exceedingly dubious records by american intelligence agencies. one significant product of the declassification of foreign government information, with the consent of the british government is the collection of summaries of british interrogations of murder commando leader oldendorf in the summer of 1945, before he was turned over to the americans in december of that year in which hillary earl could therefore utilize for rural -- her goal on the trial of commando leaders. it is reasonable to exp

tony blair decided not to because that would play into terrorist hands, she have to be careful in thosesomething happened. thejob of the prime minister is to make the difficult decisions and not go too faror difficult decisions and not go too far or too little. so far, how do you think this government has done on this? i'm glad to see the prime minister come out with the chief scientist yesterday. that is important as he needs to be out there on a regular basis, communicating and explaining. it was u nfortu nately were slow communicating and explaining. it was unfortunately were slow off the mark they need to be ready with to do with us, to explain ad to get that balance right between do too much and too little. the problem is unexpected consequences. when you deal with the fuel x dispute... we worried about the cash running out of money. you always need to be ready for those kinds of things is sometimes happy ready to bring in the army, as we did with the foot and mouth thing,. thank you very much. well, let's have a look at the impact the virus is having on the uk. julianne ponan is c

this is a crisis far bigger than anything i had to help tony blair deal with, it is huge, complicatedon‘t think they are providing enough fact and detail, and i think at a time like this the public are very willing to understand that this is really complicated, they will listen to the complexities, but i think the government and particularly the prime minister, for then, you have to ta ke prime minister, for then, you have to take the public into your confidence, you have to explain not just the decisions but the reasons for the decisions, the data behind the decisions, and how they relate to previous decisions. if not, you just have a sense, frankly, of them sort of slightly making it up as they go along. is that not the role provided by the advisers who appear with the prime minister almost every day? partly, it is, but i've been advising people who are involved in communications, and i‘ve been sending this to all sort of presidents and prime ministers and anybody who works in government that i know to take a look at the briefing is being done by the new york governor, and obviously

if there were a holdup reported to him, he might telephone his friend british prime minister tony blair and those in the relevant offices in and near london did not want -- since by definition, the records and question we're at least half a century old. the highly unusual repetitive the agreement to declassify was unlikely to cause any real problems for british situated. and important byproduct of the declassification of american intelligence records was the publication of books by richard brighten about the post war american recruitment of nazis. some with dubious records by american intelligence agencies. one significant product of the d classification a foreign government information with the consent of the british government, as the collection of summaries of british interrogations of murder commando leader in the summer of 1945 before he was turned over to the americans and december that year and which hillary earl could therefore utilize for her book on the nuremburg trial of the murder commandoes. it is reasonable to expect, that in the coming years other researchers will find im