New Delhi: Under Tony Blair, the Labour Party in the UK stayed in power for three consecutive terms. However, midway through the third stint, under pressure from within the party, he had to step down as prime minister in June last year. The 55-year-old has, among other things, since served as the West Asia envoy for the United Nations and has been a key votary for a global agreement on climate change. Blair who was in India last week to attend the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit took some time out for a private conversation with Mint. Edited excerpts:
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What are your thoughts on the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the US?
I think it is a moment of great possibility, great opportunity, but it is also a moment of huge expectation; which is going to be difficult for him to meet because some of these expectations are so vast and they don’t always run in consistent directions. I think the most important thing for us is that he will reach out a hand of partnership to the world. But it is important that the world reaches a hand back and doesn’t take what he offers and puts it in the pocket. I think it will involve some tough choices on our part as well. If you take the issue of climate change where he has committed himself to reaching a deal; well, he can try to reach a deal, but he will want China, India and other countries doing things as well.
You don’t think he will force a big shift in the US stand on climate change?
I think he will. It will be a big push forward for sure. But I think some hard policy choices will still remain; what will be the commitment of America in terms of its target and how will it deliver that and so on and so forth. And, then what will it expect crucially from China and India in return—this will be the issue I think. No, I think he is determined to make change, but all I am saying is that it is sometime tougher than what it seems. There was a famous American politician, Mario Cuomo, who said, and something I have often used, this phrase exemplifying what politics is like: You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose.
What about the impact on the US foreign policy and overall on global polity?