Britain | Back to the future

Sir Tony Blair mesmerises the Labour Party, again

The former prime minister still puts on the biggest, slickest show in Westminster

Sir Tony Blair speaks during the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain Conference
Oh, look, it’s the hand of historyImage: Alamy

SIR TONY BLAIR is now 70 years old. It is 29 years since he became Labour leader, and 16 since he left Downing Street. And yet still he puts on the slickest, most dazzling show in British politics. The Future of Britain conference, hosted by his Institute for Global Change in London on July 18th, had the aesthetics of an Apple launch and the speaker list of Davos. The audience mixed ageing New Labour ministers with the cream of parliamentary candidates for 2024 (the very bright and very loyal) for whom Sir Tony was their childhood. The event offered a relentlessly optimistic vision of a modernising Britain, fuelled by hope and technology.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Back to the future”

From the July 22nd 2023 edition

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