Broken Vows (66 page)

Read Broken Vows Online

Authors: Tom Bower

CHAPTER 8


Immigration won’t be an issue
…’ O’Brien, interview with author


No,’ replied Straw
. Walker, interview with author


I want to make
…’ Eland, interview with author


We must not let
…’ Flesher, interview with author

Straw was deaf to
… ibid.


the relief of Mafeking
…’ O’Brien, interview with author

O’Brien also stated
… Portes, ‘Migration: An Economic and Social Analysis’, October 2000, para 6.8


Gordon has agreed to pay
…’ O’Brien, interview with author

Although Straw rejected
… Flesher, interview with author


a failure of policy
…’ Omand, interview with author


a soft touch
’ Walker, interview with author

Blair’s lack of interest
… Flesher and O’Brien, interviews with author

The number of immigrants
… Straw,
Last Man Standing
, p. 295


What more do you want
…’ Boys-Smith, interview with author


what mattered to me
…’ Blair, p. 631


We were quickly dubbed
…’ ibid., pp. 204–5

The government’s policies
… Boys-Smith, interview with author


I was shocked by
…’ ibid.

The civil service
… Blair, pp. 204–5

CHAPTER 9


found himself banging
…’ Powell, pp. 71–3


Why Britain Needs …’ The Times
, 15 January 1998

She continued talking
… Blair, p. 217; Powell, p. 184


driving Tony absolutely crazy
’ Powell, p. 184


Well, what you shouldn’t
…’ Rawnsley,
End of the Party
, p. 289


drain government of its role
…’ Wilson, interview with author


The problem with the traditional
…’ Blair, pp. 18–19

To allay Blair’s fears
… Powell, p. 81

Having risen to the top

The Times,
8 June 1998

The direction of the NHS
… Wilson, interview with author


Hospitals are too much like
…’ McKeon, interview with author

Later, on three separate occasions … The Times
, 29 September 1998;
Observer
, 11 June 2000

Over the thirty years

Independent
, 27 June 2012, quoting the National Audit Office

Blair confessed he was
… Blair, speech to Labour Party conference, 1999

In the jargon he used
… Campbell,
Power and the People
, p. 647

On reflection, Blair realised
… Bower,
Paymaster
, pp. 174–7

Blair left for his summer holiday
… ibid., pp. 136ff

In July 1998, he faced
… Mandelson,
The Third Man
, p. 253

The government’s policies were
… Langlands, ‘NHS Leadership’, King’s Fund, 24 March 2011


They’re well meaning
…’ Mandelson, interview with author


Why did you appoint
…’ Mandelson, p. 215


Blair’s real delinquency
…’ Clarke, interview with author


Dobson spent a lot of time
…’ Langlands, ‘NHS Leadership’

But that did not explain why
… report by Sir Brian Jarman of Imperial College


Well, he didn’t raise it
…’ McCrea, interview with author

He could not foresee
… Civitas, ‘After Francis’, studies by Dr Zack Cooper and others, 2010, p. 22


Tony didn’t complain
…’ Dobson, interview with author

In November, Blair again ignored
… Bower,
Paymaster
, p. 193


the coming of age
…’
The Times,
28 October and 6/7 November 1998


Scandal is an absolute
…’ Blair, pp. 130, 220


The PM
…’ Bower, Paymaster, p. 204

And he blamed Campbell
… Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 349–53;
Power and the People,
p. 608; Mandelson, p. 204


this sweet, sticky web
…’
The Times
, 29 December 1998


Thereafter,’ wrote Mandelson
… Mandelson, p. 25


I have no doubt
…’ ibid., p. 276


This must be the year
…’ Wilson, interview with author


They had no idea
…’ Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 408


very offensive …’ The Times
, 2 February 1999


information-age government
’ Bender, interview with author


We will be forward-looking
…’ ‘Modernising Government’, White Paper, p. 15


We were left talking
…’ ‘The Spin Doctors’,
Panorama
, BBC TV, 13 March 2000


Blair, Brown and Dobson
…’ Annual conference, Healthcare Financial Management Association, 1999

Already under fire
… King’s Fund, ‘Independent Audit of the NHS under Labour 1997–2004’, p. 24


A new prime minister
…’ Powell, p. 29

Blair dismissed their
… Campbell,
Power and Responsibility
, pp. xv, 125, 141;
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127646

Only later would Blair
… Blair, p. 5


He seemed unaware that
…’ Campbell,
Power and Responsibility,
pp. 92–4, 99

CHAPTER 11


We can’t let it
…’ Campbell,
Power and the People,
p. 415


convinced that he could resolve
…’ Powell, p. 55; Campbell,
Power and the People
, p. 524

Ignoring the Foreign Office’s
… Campbell,
Power and the People
, pp. 416, 418

International diplomacy was more
… Powell, p. 262

Clinton, however, would consider
… Campbell,
Power and the People
, pp. 516–9, 538


It really is pretty scary
…’ Seldon,
Blair
, p. 387

At their joint press conference
… Seldon and Kavanagh, p. 396; Campbell,
Power and the People
, p. 287

Blair had read
… Blair, pp. 209, 224


devoured’ Jenkins’s life of Gladstone
… Powell, p. 32

Modern European history had little
… Blair, p. 224

Robin Cook, who would push
… Campbell,
Power and the People
, p. 301

Blair now waited for Clinton
… Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 278;
Power and the People
, p. 560

the president would drop
… Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 334;
Power and the People
, pp. 590–2


improving the possibility …’ The Times,
17 November 1998


paper tiger
…’ ibid., 18 November 1998

The Cabinet agreed to the bombing
. Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 332


I sensed
…’ Campbell,
Power and the People
, p. 596

The RAF, he told MPs
… Guthrie, interview with author

Owen noted that Blair
… Owen,
In Sickness and in Power
, p. 254

Blair retorted that
… Campbell,
Power and the People
, pp. 512, 516, 520


I saw it essentially as
…’ Blair, pp. 227–9


Jonathan Powell,’ noticed Guthrie
… Guthrie, interview with author


show who was boss
’ Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 368

The Americans, he added
… Guthrie, interview with author; Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 262


I thought he was going to hit me
’ Campbell,
Blair Years,
pp. 370–1


No amount of NATO bombing …’ The Times
, 24 and 27 March 1999

Blair was uncertain about
… Blair, p. 237


This is not moral
…’
The Times
, 22 April 1999


This could be the end
…’ Seldon,
Blair
, p. 395


I’m not interested in your
…’ Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 376


We are going for broke
’ Campbell,
Power and the People
, pp. 718, 725;
Blair Years
, p. 382

he used Cook’s unexpected dash
… Guthrie, interview with author


If we don’t win this
…’ Campbell,
Blair Years
, p. 380;
Power and the People
, pp. 732–3

revised meaning of ‘force for good
’ Blair, p. 248

For the British diplomats
… Myer, interview with author

Alarmed by the rise of
… Rawnsley,
End of the Party
, p. 44


This is a battle for
…’ Powell, p. 267; Campbell,
Blair Years
, pp. 385–6

Cook was a snake
… Seldon and Kavanagh, p. 15

Other ministers offered
… Campbell,
Blair Years
, pp. 394–5

The bombing, wrote Simon Jenkins … The Times,
4 June 1999


It was a gamble
…’ ibid., 5 June 1999


The Kosovo conflict
…’ Blair, p. 227

CHAPTER 13

In hindsight, he blamed
… Blair, p. 263


It wasn’t significant for Blair
…’ Dobson, interview with author


I returned to find a burning
…’ Milburn, interview with author


since 1997 the service had recruited
…’ Bower,
Gordon Brown
, p. 334

Pushing one button
… Anderson, interview with author

Labour’s partisan opposition
… Blair, ‘Antagonism of Choice’, speech to Labour Party conference, September 2003


Don’t ever speak to me
…’ Campbell,
Power and Responsibility
, p. 237

Among the victims was
… ibid., pp. 118, 122, 164, 168, 189–91

He also accused Blair … New Statesman
, 14 January 2000


It was the most important battle
…’ Powell, p. 111


always more money
’ Campbell,
Power and Responsibility,
p. 211


overenthusiastic briefing’ The Times
, 22 January 2000


We’re putting money in
…’ Le Grand and Milburn, interviews with author


We didn’t have the same
…’ Powell, p. 186

He explained his failure
… Milburn, interview with author

More money
… Campbell,
Power and Responsibility,
pp. 243–4; Bower,
Branson: Behind the Mask
, p. 214

the Treasury’s Red Book
… Powell, p. 111


all part of an effort
…’ Campbell,
Power and Responsibility,
pp. 274–5


he wasn’t believed …’ The Times
, 17 July 2000


Yes, Labour’s love affair
…’ ibid., 15 June 2000

Later, in a memorandum to
… ibid., 17 July 2000


were too late
…’ ibid., 19 July 2000


the headlines were dominated
…’
webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20050302192710/number10.gov.uk/page1523


redesign the NHS
…’ Milburn, interview with author

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