by Tom Bower
‘Because I represent Blackburn …’ Walker, interview with author
‘Straw’s also not interested …’ O’Brien, interview with author
‘Blair’, observed Butler … Butler, interview with author
It was clear that Straw’s … Wilson, interview with author
‘Increase the countries on …’ Walker, interview with author
Among those to be granted … Flesher, interview with author
‘Law and order …’ Blair, p. 630
In reality, Downing Street’s … Clarke, interview with author; The Times, 22 May 1997; Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 31, 55
‘placatory signals’ Blair, pp. 204–5
CHAPTER 3
Four days after the election … Langlands, interview with author
A plan introduced in 1988 … Rivett, National Health Service History, ‘Labour’s Decade 1998–2007’, p. 213: www.nhshistory.net/cvrivett.htm
‘had not got a clue …’ Hill, email to author
‘The state was still …’ Blair, p. 214
Although he instinctively accepted … Butler, interview with author
‘Save the NHS’ was … Smith, interview with author
Over the following weeks … Edwards and Fall, The Executive Years of the NHS 1985–2003 (Radcliffe, 2005), pp. 154 and 161, and interviews with author
Hart resisted explaining … Hart, interview with author; Seldon and Kavanagh, The Blair Effect, p. 284; Rivett, p. 170; Dowling, GPs and Purchasing in the NHS: The Internal Market and Beyond (Ashgate, 2000)
‘He doesn’t have the faintest …’ Hart, interview with author
He would rely on … Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 47, 50, 105–6
‘The chancellor would like …’ Hart, interview with author
‘Go and see Gordon …’ Langlands, interview with author
‘I can’t give these …’ ibid.; Edwards and Fall, p. 164
Millions were spent … Edwards and Fall, p. 158
‘We had prepared …’ Powell, p. 177
‘Very odd-looking …’ Campbell, Power and the People, p. 108; The Blair Years, p. 263
CHAPTER 4
Since 1995, the education budget … In 1997, the education budget was 4.6 per cent of GDP, about £50 billion. Lupton and Obolenskaya, ‘Labour’s Record on Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997–2010’, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), LSE, ‘Social Policy in a Cold Climate’, Working Paper 3, July 2013, pp. 16, 20
The 1988 Act imposed … Thatcher, The Downing Street Years, p. 593
‘We have a crap teaching …’ House of Commons Select Committee on Education, 8 March 2010; Barber, Instruction to Deliver, p. 28
Both Left and Right … Gillard, Education in England: A Brief History (2011), p. 5: www.educationengland.org.uk/articles/25academies.html
By 2002, they were ordered …’ Ofsted, ‘National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 1998–2002’, p. 3; Walford, Blair’s Educational Legacy? (Routledge, 2010); Cassen, ‘Tackling Low Educational Achievement’, Rowntree Foundation, 2007; Cassen, Making a Difference in Education: What the Evidence Says, chapter 6 (Routledge, 2015); ‘Social Policy in a Cold Climate’, a series of papers edited by John Hill
To enforce the changes … Barber, p. 32
They were to be reopened … The legislation was the School Standard and Framework Act, 2 June 1998
Nearly every teacher … Clarke, interview with author
‘Why are the schools …’ Woodhead, interview with author
‘Ofsted should be used … ibid.
‘Yes, yes, yes …’ Woodhead, interview with author
That autumn, Blunkett … Brown, ‘The Key Role of Educational Research in the Development and Evaluation of the National Numeracy Strategy’, British Educational Research Journal, p. 10
The Tories had told teachers … Lupton and Obolenskaya, p. 14
The best and the worst … Brown, ‘Magic Bullets or Chimeras? Searching for Factors Characterising Effective Teachers and Effective Teaching in Numeracy’, paper given at the British Educational Research Association Conference, University of Leeds, 2001; Brown, ‘The Key Role of …’, p. 7
Student teachers, warned Brown … Brown, interview with author
Giddens’s way with language … Seldon, Blair, p. 380
CHAPTER 5
‘It’s a sad day …’ Bower, The Paymaster, pp. 135, 138
‘Peter has let his ego …’ Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 105, 117, 120
Blair walked into … Bender, interview with author
No. 10’s bright new …’ ibid.; Campbell, Power and the People, p. 121
An outstanding performer … Finlayson, Making Sense of New Labour, p. 16
‘Tony Blair has this week …’ The Times, 6 September 1997
‘change and modernise’ ibid., 8 September 1997
‘Modernisation’ was the theme … Campbell, Blair Years, pp. 247–8; Power and the People, pp. 146, 162
To avoid further embarrassment … Campbell, Power and the People, p. 86
‘In so far as …’ Levy, A Question of Honour, p. 133; Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 171, 176–8, 198
‘Peter Mandelson seems to …’ The Times, 9 August 1997
On Brown’s behalf … The Times, 18 October 1997; Campbell, Power and the People, p. 179; Blair Years, p. 253
‘well aware what …’ The Times, 27 October 1997
‘Theirs is not a relationship …’ Turnbull and Tebbit, interviews with author
‘we’re dead …’ Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 185–6
‘We do not propose …’ ibid., pp. 191–2
‘The consequences were …’ Blair, pp. 126–7
Events were moving … Campbell, Power and Responsibility, p. 405; Levy, p. 137
The £1 million … Campbell, Blair Years, pp. 257–8; Power and the People, p. 206
‘Our sin in this case …’ Powell, p. 213
‘To be fair …’ Blair, p. 129
Back in Ecclestone’s … Ward, interview with author; Bower, No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone, p. 200
‘The whole of Whitehall …’ Mosley, interview with author
‘To my knowledge …’ Levy, p. 137
On the same day … Rawnsley, The End of the Party, pp. 95–6; Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 221, 225; Blair Years, p. 261
‘We must not let …’ Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 43, 449
‘was taking a real …’ Campbell, Blair Years, p. 261; Powell, p. 214
Straw then promptly … Evening Standard, 13 November 1997
‘I think that most …’ The Times, 16 November 1997
‘I’ve been hung out …’ Ecclestone, interview with author
To avoid chaos … Campbell, Blair Years, p. 262
‘I have been evasive …’ Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 208–10
‘would return to …’ Bender, interview with author
‘Call the dogs off’ Powell, p. 110
‘The attention-seeking …’ Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 64, 94, 102–4, 108; Blair Years, p. 222
CHAPTER 6
‘I know we have …’ Burridge, interview with author
‘Clare’s sound on …’ Guthrie, interview with author
Blair halted his ‘pompous …’ Campbell, Power and the People, p. 53
‘It’s been written …’ Tebbit and Essenhigh, interviews with author
‘He doesn’t have a clue …’ Guthrie, interview with author
‘Now there’s a real politician’ Gibson, interview with author
Well prepared for the meeting … The Times, 18 June 1997
‘Believes that he was …’ Campbell, Blair Years, p. 211; Power and the People, pp. 58–60
‘the most reviled presidential …’ The Times, 28 May 1997; Campbell, Blair Years, p. 208; Power and the People, p. 43; Blair, p. 231
‘no longer ignore …’ Powell, pp. 263�
��5
‘The world needs our leadership’ Blair, p. xviii
The opinion polls … The Times, 27 June 1997
‘I have to tell you …’ Campbell, Power and the People, p. 231
Robinson had been unapologetic … Bower, Paymaster, p. 150
‘He’s a sad, sad …’ Campbell, Power and the People, p. 255
‘I’m surrounded by …’ ibid., p. 261
‘an intriguing guide …’ The Times, 14 January 1998
A ponderous leader … ibid., 20 January 1998
‘complained interminably …’ Powell, p. 184
‘Tony was not a natural …’ ibid., p. 63
‘put the boot into …’ Bower, Gordon Brown, p. 267
‘helped by a bottle of sherry’ Essenhigh, interview with author
To try to help … Campbell, Power and the People, p. 419
CHAPTER 7
Those few experts … Keay, interview with author
‘Irresponsible …’ House of Commons, 18 April 1998
‘They just don’t get it’ Rickett, interview with author
In New Labour’s lexicon … McNulty, interview with author
CHAPTER 8
‘Immigration won’t be an issue …’ O’Brien, interview with author
‘No,’ replied Straw. Walker, interview with author
‘I want to make …’ Eland, interview with author
‘We must not let …’ Flesher, interview with author
Straw was deaf to … ibid.
‘the relief of Mafeking …’ O’Brien, interview with author
O’Brien also stated … Portes, ‘Migration: An Economic and Social Analysis’, October 2000, para 6.8
‘Gordon has agreed to pay …’ O’Brien, interview with author
Although Straw rejected … Flesher, interview with author
‘a failure of policy …’ Omand, interview with author
‘a soft touch’ Walker, interview with author
Blair’s lack of interest … Flesher and O’Brien, interviews with author
The number of immigrants … Straw, Last Man Standing, p. 295
‘What more do you want …’ Boys-Smith, interview with author
‘what mattered to me …’ Blair, p. 631
‘We were quickly dubbed …’ ibid., pp. 204–5
The government’s policies … Boys-Smith, interview with author
‘I was shocked by …’ ibid.
The civil service … Blair, pp. 204–5
CHAPTER 9
‘found himself banging …’ Powell, pp. 71–3
‘Why Britain Needs …’ The Times, 15 January 1998
She continued talking … Blair, p. 217; Powell, p. 184
‘driving Tony absolutely crazy’ Powell, p. 184
‘Well, what you shouldn’t …’ Rawnsley, End of the Party, p. 289
‘drain government of its role …’ Wilson, interview with author
‘The problem with the traditional …’ Blair, pp. 18–19
To allay Blair’s fears … Powell, p. 81
Having risen to the top … The Times, 8 June 1998
The direction of the NHS … Wilson, interview with author
‘Hospitals are too much like …’ McKeon, interview with author
Later, on three separate occasions … The Times, 29 September 1998; Observer, 11 June 2000
Over the thirty years … Independent, 27 June 2012, quoting the National Audit Office
Blair confessed he was … Blair, speech to Labour Party conference, 1999
In the jargon he used … Campbell, Power and the People, p. 647
On reflection, Blair realised … Bower, Paymaster, pp. 174–7
Blair left for his summer holiday … ibid., pp. 136ff
In July 1998, he faced … Mandelson, The Third Man, p. 253
The government’s policies were … Langlands, ‘NHS Leadership’, King’s Fund, 24 March 2011
‘They’re well meaning …’ Mandelson, interview with author
‘Why did you appoint …’ Mandelson, p. 215
‘Blair’s real delinquency …’ Clarke, interview with author
‘Dobson spent a lot of time …’ Langlands, ‘NHS Leadership’
But that did not explain why … report by Sir Brian Jarman of Imperial College
‘Well, he didn’t raise it …’ McCrea, interview with author
He could not foresee … Civitas, ‘After Francis’, studies by Dr Zack Cooper and others, 2010, p. 22
‘Tony didn’t complain …’ Dobson, interview with author
In November, Blair again ignored … Bower, Paymaster, p. 193
‘the coming of age …’ The Times, 28 October and 6/7 November 1998
‘Scandal is an absolute …’ Blair, pp. 130, 220
‘The PM …’ Bower, Paymaster, p. 204
And he blamed Campbell … Campbell, Blair Years, p. 349–53; Power and the People, p. 608; Mandelson, p. 204
‘this sweet, sticky web …’ The Times, 29 December 1998
‘Thereafter,’ wrote Mandelson … Mandelson, p. 25
‘I have no doubt …’ ibid., p. 276
‘This must be the year …’ Wilson, interview with author
‘They had no idea …’ Campbell, Blair Years, p. 408
‘very offensive …’ The Times, 2 February 1999
‘information-age government’ Bender, interview with author
‘We will be forward-looking …’ ‘Modernising Government’, White Paper, p. 15
‘We were left talking …’ ‘The Spin Doctors’, Panorama, BBC TV, 13 March 2000
‘Blair, Brown and Dobson …’ Annual conference, Healthcare Financial Management Association, 1999
Already under fire … King’s Fund, ‘Independent Audit of the NHS under Labour 1997–2004’, p. 24
‘A new prime minister …’ Powell, p. 29
Blair dismissed their … Campbell, Power and Responsibility, pp. xv, 125, 141; www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127646
Only later would Blair … Blair, p. 5
‘He seemed unaware that …’ Campbell, Power and Responsibility, pp. 92–4, 99
CHAPTER 10
Success, he said … Blair, pp. xxxiii, 99
‘Should we do more …’ The Times, 2 December 2005
‘They assumed …’ Woodhead, interview with author
‘Tony wanted speedy results …’ Blunkett, interview with author
Despite financial support … Gillard, Education in England, p. 8, and reports by NAO and IPPR
Both wanted a manifesto commitment … Eisenstadt, ‘Providing a Sure Start: How Government Discovered Early Childhood’, 2011, p. 130
‘The honeymoon is over’ Eisenstadt, interview with author
Brown had seized upon … Lupton and Obolenskaya, p. 7
He failed to mention … Brown, ‘The Key Role of …’, p. 10
His data ignored … Lupton and Obolenskaya, p. 29
Treasury officials warning him … The Times, 2 April 2007
‘damaging impression …’ Blair, p. 116
CHAPTER 11
‘We can’t let it …’ Campbell, Power and the People, p. 415
‘convinced that he could resolve …’ Powell, p. 55; Campbell, Power and the People, p. 524
Ignoring the Foreign Office’s … Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 416, 418
International diplomacy was more … Powell, p. 262
Clinton, however, would consider … Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 516–9, 538
‘It really is pretty scary …’ Seldon, Blair, p. 387
At their joint press conference … Seldon and Kavanagh, p. 396; Campbell, Power and the People, p. 287
Blair had read … Blair, pp. 209, 224
‘devoured’ Jenkins’s life of Gladstone … Powell, p. 32
Modern European history had little … Blair, p. 224
Robin Cook, who would push … Campbell, Power and the People, p. 301
/> Blair now waited for Clinton … Campbell, Blair Years, p. 278; Power and the People, p. 560
the president would drop … Campbell, Blair Years, p. 334; Power and the People, pp. 590–2
‘improving the possibility …’ The Times, 17 November 1998
‘paper tiger …’ ibid., 18 November 1998
The Cabinet agreed to the bombing. Campbell, Blair Years, p. 332
‘I sensed …’ Campbell, Power and the People, p. 596
The RAF, he told MPs … Guthrie, interview with author
Owen noted that Blair … Owen, In Sickness and in Power, p. 254
Blair retorted that … Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 512, 516, 520
‘I saw it essentially as …’ Blair, pp. 227–9
‘Jonathan Powell,’ noticed Guthrie … Guthrie, interview with author
‘show who was boss’ Campbell, Blair Years, p. 368
The Americans, he added … Guthrie, interview with author; Campbell, Blair Years, p. 262
‘I thought he was going to hit me’ Campbell, Blair Years, pp. 370–1
‘No amount of NATO bombing …’ The Times, 24 and 27 March 1999
Blair was uncertain about … Blair, p. 237
‘This is not moral …’ The Times, 22 April 1999
‘This could be the end …’ Seldon, Blair, p. 395
‘I’m not interested in your …’ Campbell, Blair Years, p. 376
‘We are going for broke’ Campbell, Power and the People, pp. 718, 725; Blair Years, p. 382
he used Cook’s unexpected dash … Guthrie, interview with author
‘If we don’t win this …’ Campbell, Blair Years, p. 380; Power and the People, pp. 732–3
revised meaning of ‘force for good’ Blair, p. 248
For the British diplomats … Myer, interview with author
Alarmed by the rise of … Rawnsley, End of the Party, p. 44
‘This is a battle for …’ Powell, p. 267; Campbell, Blair Years, pp. 385–6
Cook was a snake … Seldon and Kavanagh, p. 15
Other ministers offered … Campbell, Blair Years, pp. 394–5
The bombing, wrote Simon Jenkins … The Times, 4 June 1999
‘It was a gamble …’ ibid., 5 June 1999
