Voice of Commonwealth

Tony Blair did not enjoy being Prime Minister

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By Elishya Perera

LONDON (CU)_Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he did not enjoy his role as PM, as  he discussed the pressures of leading the country due to the huge responsibility it entailed.

As Prime Minister of the UK for an entire decade, PM Blair said it was “crazy” given the significance of the responsibilities and level of experience required to discharge these duties successfully.

With the role of the PM being his first job in government, the former British leader claimed that he took over the role as “most popular and least capable” and ended his job as “least popular and most capable”.

“I don’t think I did enjoy the job because the responsibility is so huge,” PM Blair explained. “Every day you’re making decisions and every day you’re under massive scrutiny as is your family.”

“So I didn’t know if I enjoyed it.”

He went on to compare his experience as Prime Minister to that of a fan being appointed as manager of Manchester United.

“If you’re looking for the new coach of Manchester United and ‘I tell you what we’re going to find the most enthusiastic and persuasive fan we can find and put in him charge of the team’,” he noted.

“People would say you’re insane.”

The former Labour leader made these comments during an interview with BBC Radio 4 for a new programme series which focuses on how the role of the Prime Minister in the UK has changed over the past three centuries. It will also feature former prime ministers Sir John Major and David Cameron, as well as to the current office holder PM Boris Johnson.

Recalling his own experience at Downing Street, PM Cameron noted that the Prime Minister’s Office is underpowered in comparison to other institutions of the government.

“Everyone thinks Number 10 is all powerful because it is the office of the prime minister,” he said.

“But of course Number 10 is very small, underpowered, compared to these massive departments of state.”

He added that given the significance of the role and the immense responsibility attached to it, it was important for him to spend some time alone, to “just think and just breathe”.

“Just a few moments of peace at lunchtime and making a cheese sandwich and eating it alone… These were really valuable moments.”

Meanwhile, PM Johnson acknowledged the efforts of the team which helps support prime ministers at Downing Street.

“The great thing about being in Number 10, as I think probably any prime minister has found, is that it’s a job that is brilliantly supported by a massive team of people who have all evolved over hundreds of years into what is a big department of state now,” he said.

He went on to described the British government as “an incredible institution that has evolved over time into this extraordinary centre of a G7 economy”.

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