Thread:

Years ago I worked as a tech advisor for NGOs, and alongside one client I ended up present at some meetings of ministers, and watched a press conference Tony Blair did. It was astonishing.

I won't bore you with details of the campaign I was part of, but Blair had a statement about a thing relating to it.

Around 60 journalists all wanted to ask about other things.

He answered every question in detail. But sometimes he'd say "I'll come back to that" and I'd wonder what he was hiding.

But then 17 questions later a journo would ask something related, and Blair would remember the earlier question, answer them both, draw the connections, and ask both journalists if they had follow-up questions.

He wasn't hiding, he was waiting until both questions came up.

Questions came up about an embarrassing internal party argument. He didn't ignore it or shift blame, he just stood there and answered, then asked if that cleared things up, and invited follow-up questions.

One journo asked a 4-part question, and he answered all 4 parts in such detail it took perhaps 8 or 10 minutes to get through it.

He seemed (as far as I could tell) to know every bit of UK law, plus most Canadian law it related to, and the names and offices of every official.

He switched into French for French journalists, and after he'd answered, he translated the question and answer into English for the rest of us.

It went on for maybe 2 hours. It only stopped when the media had nothing left to ask. It was incredibly detailed and in-depth.

When I got home I thought: surely that will be on TV, it was extraordinary. But it wasn't on TV. No mention. When I next saw the client I'd been there with, they said "oh, it was normal, all PMs do it".

I'm sorry, but I can't imagine any current minister doing anything like it.

I'm not claiming Blair was unique, and my then-clients indicated he wasn't. This was what was expected from a PM: deep knowledge, incredible detail, facing everything head on. Blair, Major, Thatcher had all done it.

I guess we get the govt we vote for. And we repeatedly vote for lightweights.

Dunno why this just popped into my head.

@RussInCheshire
Do we though? I've never voted for mendacious lightweight cunts, but they seem to have been foisted upon me.
@RussInCheshire fascinating: thanks for sharing

@RussInCheshire

Sadly people are too easily impressed by smarmy charlatans. When Gove said we don’t need experts a large chunk of the population nodded in agreement. Comforting platitudes over unpleasant truth?

@RussInCheshire I’ve heard this about Blair, but sadly, you’re right. The system helps, in my view: the “decent fellow” model is deeply flawed when liars and charlatans get hold of the ropes.
@RussInCheshire Nicola Sturgeon always struck me as being very similar in actually answering questions journalists asked. It felt like you were being led by someone with a clue, not just a bluffer.
@RussInCheshire I live in the SE Cambs constituency. We currently have the spineless Minister for Culture etc. Lucy Frazer as our MP. She's anyone's for a chocolate biscuit. Never resigned with the other 59 ministers who turned their back on Boris Johnson. She has a permanent groove worn across her arse as she never gets off the fence. She's proof that you could pin a blue rosette to a manure heap around here, and it would get selected as Tory candidate AND get elected to parliament.
@RussInCheshire I saw a parliamentary committee a few months back. John Major made a statement. It was so, so powerful and statesman like. Not my party, but we seem to have lost people of this stature in British politics, for sure.
Parliamentlive.tv

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

@gruff
Thanks for posting this.

@gruff @RussInCheshire Have you listened to Major on The Rest Is Politics “Leading” podcast? He’s excellent … as was Blair a few weeks ago.

We desperately need some serious politicians and real leadership in this country

@therealgeebers No, that has passed me by. I'll check it out. Thanks. @RussInCheshire
@RussInCheshire Now there seems to be glee in willful ignorance and outright lying.
@RussInCheshire ‘We’ didn’t vote them in, other people did (who may be regretting it now, looking at their rising bills and everything being broken and all..), can’t help feeling angry at the people who voted the Tories back in 4 times in a row ☹️

@RussInCheshire Knock-on effect/tragedy #1 of 9/11: everybody looked at the states, and realized that any dumb-ass can be a "statesman" if they just have the right photo-op, and that knowing anything, or knowing how to do anything, are waaaayyyy over-rated

Knock-on effect/tragedy #2 of 9/11: Genuinely competent, dedicated public servants lashed themselves to the anchor of Little Bushism

Mind, Blair was by no means without flaws, even before 9/11, but next to his successors? Pfft.

@RussInCheshire dunno, it takes a lot of effort to be consistently this bad 😺
@RussInCheshire In Scotland we get the government our neighbouring country votes for 🤷‍♀️

@RussInCheshire

Voter responsibility is underrated.
It would be interesting to see data for 'Middle Manager, Middle income, Conservative Voter, Brexit types who are in distress and if they realise that they have voted for their own despair.

@RussInCheshire Yes. I think that's the difference, the current lot are not seasoned politicians. They've been voted in over Brexit, and the experienced ones were routed out. It's a sorry state of affairs, but as you say - we voted them in.
@RussInCheshire
Yes lightweights. Dilatant politicians with good media representation/ hype (thank you Mr Murdoch) brings in the votes. People vote for the show and get a circus.
@RussInCheshire PAY BACK THE £20,000 YOU GRIFTED

@mrkhndy Those were donations to help me fight a malicious law suit. As soon as I could, I donated £20,000 to the Trussell Trust foodbank charity, which is what I promised to do. And I posted proof of it on Twitter at the time.

It looks like you only joined here to say that - it's literally your only comment. So I'm not writing the above explanation for you, but for others. I'm blocking you.

@RussInCheshire He's was a brilliant communicator - still is actually, but most have closed their ears to him.

It's quite rare to hear a UK politician put together a structured argument off the cuff. It's all sound bites.