Tony Blair: listen to me

Under the headline, 'It might be worth listening to me', former Prime Minister Tony Blair has given an interview to Progress magazine.  It made the front page, as per below, and a section of it, about UKIP and immigration, was covered in the traditional media.

A large part of the interview, all of which is accessible here, focused on the situation in the Middle East and for students of the Office of Prime Minister Emeritus, there was a particularly interesting extract:

'Blair is frustrated that, for many Britons, Iraq effectively disqualifies him from contributing to this debate. He predicts, however, that this will change: ‘At some point … people will come to see that this is indeed a complicated and difficult argument and [that] this is something … I’ve spent not just my time in office but … the last seven years studying. I’m out in the Middle East twice a month, I’m seeing it first-hand. So when people say, “Oh, well don’t listen to him because of Iraq”, well, precisely because I’ve gone through these experiences it may just be that it’s worth at least listening to my reflections on them.’'

Mr Blair won't be the first former Prime Minister, nor will he be the last, to be frustrated that, with all this experience and expertise in a particular field, his voice is not listened to.  

To go from a situation where, as Prime Minister, everyone had to and everyone did, to a greater or lesser extent, listen to what you had to say to one where, as an ex-Prime Minister, no-one has to and no-one does, and perhaps even worse no-one wants to, listen to what you have to say must be one of the most challenging aspects of adjusting to life after Number Ten.