Tony Blair was the Prime Minister of Great Britain for ten years starting in 1997. He was actually the most successful leader the Labour Party, Britain's center-left party, has had. Prior to his term, the party had never held onto control of Parliament once it was elected to the leadership.

I have always found him to be an interesting. He is definitely more to the leftish side of his party, but he also seemed willing to bring on conservative twists into the agenda to try and do what was thought to be best for the country. Before he even left office, there was talk that he should be selected as the president of the European Union. While that did not happen, he ended up being Europe's special representative on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Blair's presentation of events is an interesting one. After a quick review of his youth, he brings readers into his political career. He does a nice job of highlighting major events such as the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, and the Iraq War. He also touches on major policy changes and issues that touched on his terms in office such as work on the national health system, reforming education, and winning the 2012 Summer Olympics for London.

Blair was also a major player on the international scale. The result is that we get some really interesting, first-hand perspectives on politicians such as Premier (now Prime Minister) Putin of Russia, Jacques Chirac and Nicholas Sarkozy (Presidents of France) and President George W. Bush of America. As when he is talking about fellow British politicians, he often refers to folks by their first names. This is really an interesting and humanizing approach.

I really appreciated his coverage of his family. It is clear how much he loves his wife Cherie and their children. He was fortunately to largely keep them out of the limelight, which is surprising since the British media can be even more sensational than the American press corps. Similarly, he cares a great deal for the folks he works with.

I was surprised to read about the schism that existed between Blair and Gordon Brown, his Chancellor of the Exchequer and the gentleman who succeeded him as Prime Minister. They had strong disagreements on how to approach issues, particular toward the end of Blair's leadership. Blair had evolved the Labour Party into a new mold (New Labour), but Brown was much more interested in shifting the party back to the older Labour Party platforms and programs. Blair predicted the lack of success that Brown would be confronted with as a result.

This is definitely not a book for everyone. I enjoy politics of all kinds, including those of Britain. It can be difficult to follow some of Blair's discussion of issues in Britain because of his regular referral to colleagues by their first names without a reference to their last name or their position in the government. My familiarity with the names meant I was able to keep track of who was who.