BROKEN VOWS: TONY BLAIR THE TRAGEDY OF POWER PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Tom Bower | 704 pages | 01 Sep 2016 | FABER & FABER | 9780571314225 | English | London, United Kingdom Broken Vows: Tony Blair the Tragedy of Power PDF Book He starts there, and after pages of character destruction, he ends there too. A real eye opener. I also had no idea how powerful the Treasury could be, and I had no idea of the extent to which Gordon Brown was allowed to hamstring Blair. Showing Howe I am interested that so many reviews refer to this book as being 'well researched'. Bower seems divided as to whether he wants to attack Blair for being an almost unaccountable visionary, imposing his will on a quiescent cabinet, or for being an uninterested bystander, unaware of the details of what is going on in his own government. Such moral equivalence - a challenge to an elected PM by disgruntled rivals and the winning of a leadership election after the death of John Smith - speaks volumes. Full Terms and Conditions apply to all Subscriptions. Companies Show more Companies. This lack of detailed understanding seemed to be hidden from the public by two things: the spin machine of Alistair Campbell, and Blair's skill as an orator. Sharply higher levels of investment went into health and education, the school and hospital building stock was renewed, child poverty went down and even the Tory party eventually embraced much of a legacy that includes the minimum wage, more spending on international aid, gender equality and gay rights. Not surprising, as it covers many years. That's said the book had me gripped to the end. What is the truth behind Blair's claims of rebuilding Britain's schools, hospitals and welfare services? Investigative piece that reveals Tony's rivalry with Brown and Tony's quest for wealth after office. Saying anyone who is against mass immigration and especially Muslim Sharia courts as racist. The book is difficult to read at times as name after name is mentioned. Likewise, his post-retirement money-making and hob-nobbing with dictators has without doubt diminished his standing. After all, 'people are entitled to their opinion'. Blair is portrayed as irredeemably despicable - a politician who knew how to win elections against a tired or weak opponent, but who had no idea how to govern. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Blair came to office with much of his agenda for the public services only sketchily thought out. Bower provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the moments leading up the Iraq War, and a good summary of Tony Blair's little-recorded life after leaving Downing Street. So if the author was making an effort to keep a reasonably well- informed and very interested anti-Labour reader with him, pages did not suffice for him to weave some sort of narrative that would allow me to keep track of some of the main characters, policies, ideas, anything. Broken Vows: Tony Blair the Tragedy of Power Writer US Show more US. The military complain as they do perennially of a shortage of resources, an absence of clear instructions far enough in advance to enable them adequately to plan and in both Iraq and Afghanistan a lack of definable goals. Regardless, no narrative emerges, no thread. Markets Show more Markets. Showing Running though the chapters I read was a belief that ministers did not know their portfolios, were uninterested in reading briefings and didn't understand their role. Not that Tony Blair, the subject matter of the book, makes this easy. People vote because they would like to see the Labour or Tory manifesto enacted, not to continue with policies churned out by non-elected officials. We might also note that not one of the brass hats and mandarins who now fulminate about Iraq resigned at the time. Why shouldn't a minister question whether particular officers suit his or her approach to a portfolio? According to Bower, it was only in the later period of his term of office that Blair became worried about growing public hostility to immigration — and that his solution then was to try to cook the books. I did not mind too much that the author is bigoted we all have our faults or that he has an axe to grind. Indeed with the BBC and every other media in England and the west in general. But no. Every second paragraph is about what Blair was thinking at any given moment. He lives in London. New Labour's project was to modernize Britain, a project in which they largely succeeded, but Bower, instead of focusing on New Labour's achievements and failures, makes the bu This undoubtedly is a well-researched and carefully crafted book. I don't review books, but leaving this note is necessary to stop other people wasting their time and money attempting to read this. Mar 12, David Brown rated it did not like it. At the same time, the right and some strands of the left have seen a self-interest in burying him with odium. Bower, as his previous books show, is not one to be deterred. Friend Reviews. Bowers's biography of Simon Cowell, written with Cowell's co-operation, was published on 20 April, Tom Bower is merciless in his dissection of Blair's political skills and lack of moral compass despite the politician's adoption of the Roman Catholic faith , and the epithet "Bliar" that was accorded Blair in retrospect seems fully justified. For 4 weeks receive unlimited Premium digital access to the FT's trusted, award- winning business news. The author is nothing if not assiduous. Which he never told the parliament about and seems to have operated his government only on a close few advisers. Alastair Campbell's 'dodgy' dossiers about WMDs sparked outrage, but did the contamination of New Labour's spin stretch beyond the wars? Time enough to lend a cooler perspective to one of the longest-serving occupants of that address? But even allowing for that it does give some insight into the character of TB. He is not the first to cash in afterwards. These bits were not history or biography. Instead they receive a slap on the wrist as they hide behind rictus grins and pseudo charm till it all dies down and then they can get on with making their millions on various circuits. Especially in a first world country, because of bad teachers but also keeping children in schools even though they were disrupting everyone else. Blair did what he does best when questioned about it, he "denied any wrong doing". To me, a leader supplies the vision and strategy; I can't bring myself to believe that this hasn't occurred to Bower, who has also written a biography of Brown. Broken Vows: Tony Blair the Tragedy of Power Reviews Some of it is gossipy, some superficial, divided even in style - he cannot decide whether he is operating thematically or chronologically and so tries to do both, leaving only a confused mess behind him - he horribly overplays his hand and therefore misses his target. A real eye opener. Sign up. Not a comprehensive assessment of the Blair years; for instance, many of the colourful personalities like John Prescott are barely mentioned. He always contradicted negative evidence against himself and used the power he rec If the evidence in this book is accurate then Blair is considered a person who didn't have a clue how to govern who led a bunch of idiots who didn't know how to run their departments and who all kept having childish playground spats particularly Blair and Brown. About Tom Bower. Opinion Show more Opinion. The party leader who won three elections and, for a time became the poster boy for the international centre-left, had little interest in books or history, Bower asserts. Kindle Edition , pages. Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more. That is an unsustainable analysis. All motives are assumed to be of the worst. Blair has earned tens of millions through a combination of consultancies, public speaking and offering himself as an intermediary on corporate deals. It also overlooks the fact that, slowly and after many false starts, standards in many parts of the public sector did improve, in some cases dramatically. There seems to be an exception to that rule in the case of Tony Blair. The result is the political thriller of the year, illuminating the mystery of an extraordinary politician who continues to fascinate to this day. He is one of only two prime ministers since the Napoleonic wars to secure an unbroken decade at No Likewise, his post-retirement money-making and hob-nobbing with dictators has without doubt diminished his standing. Forgot Password? I came to this book with considerable admiration for the author. He had many failings, and the chapters on his post-premiership activities were insightful and damning. But I have numerous issues which, in the end, stopped me taking the book too seriously. Most popular. He committed to joining the war long before he told the cabinet or the public, sold the invasion on the basis of a false prospectus about weapons of mass destruction , and the planning for the aftermath was shockingly and catastrophically inadequate. I was a bit unsure about this book as its subject rather polarises opinions but I actually really enjoys it. Blair developed such an inflated ego that he was able to act with such breath taking arrogance and impunity with regards to what happened in his Asian wars.