Blair Unbound follows Blair’s premiership from 2001 until his departure in 2007. Seldon believes that during his first term Blair was concerned with presentation and electoral success, but that in this later period he found direction and commitment in policy. What changed? Two things, it seems: firstly 9/11, and secondly the realisation that his approach to that point could leave his leadership thin on achievement.

So what did he try to achieve? Everything, it seems, throwing himself into Afghanistan, Iraq, Northern Ireland, the Euro, reforming public services, and the belief that he should lead in enacting these changes. The ensuing war with Brown runs through the entire book, alleviated only during the 2005 General Election and the final handover period in summer 2007.

That wholehearted commitment, and belief in whatever he was doing, was Blair’s strength and his weakness. Where he achieved remarkable amounts in relation to promoting awareness of climate change where it was unwelcome and achieved huge success in Northern Ireland, he followed an erroneous idea to disaster in Iraq. Tellingly, he never doubted that any of this was the correct thing to do: when he said “I did what I thought was right,” he meant it. Seldon’s book is illuminated by the times he was right and darkened by the times he was wrong. Whilst the incoherence and late blossoming of ‘Blairism’ is severely highlighted, the force of it means that in virtually no area was Blair’s ten years in office insignificant. ( )