Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Blair Important Diplomat for Allies
Aired January 02, 2002 - 06:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And British Prime Minister Tony Blair is going to try to ease some of the tensions between India and Pakistan. He plans to visit both countries next week. As CNN's Robin Oakley reports, Blair may be well suited for the role of diplomats.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For Tony Blair, daunting dad of one-year old Leo, it's been quite a year. In 2001, he won another thumping election victory, big enough to insure he'll have his way for another four years. But thanks largely to September the 11th, it's been the year too when the rest of the world got to know Britain's prime minister. No world leader was swifter to promise total backing for the U.S. in the fight against terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN: This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism. We therefore here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Tony Blair has done more than cheer on from the sidelines, he's been the ambassador at large for the allies, tirelessly touring the world to whip up support for the coalition. Tuesday the body language less than comfortable, he's meeting President Assad in Syria. Wednesday it's on to Saudi Arabia to see King Fahd. Thursday it's podium to podium with Ariel Sharon in Israel, then on to take the cause to Yasser Arafat in Gaza and to King Abdullah in Jordan.
Margaret Thatcher's former foreign affairs adviser says Tony Blair's contribution has been of primordial importance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORD CHARLES POWELL, FORMER FOREIGN AFFAIRS ADVISER: The British prime minister can do things, which are harder for an American president to do in this sort of situation. For instance, to take a very simple one, travel. When an American president moves about 3,000 people and several large aircraft go with him, not to speak of armored cars and so on. A British prime minister is invariably rather more modest and can travel from country to country with a very small staff. And his ability to get around and meet first-hand many of the important countries in the Middle East and close to Afghanistan, I think was a great benefit to the -- to the coalition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Blair's political buddies say he's a risk taker who knows where he's going.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER MANDELSON, FORMER NORTHERN IRELAND MINISTER: He follows through, so he doesn't simply have clarity of mind, he has followed through in his actions, and he galvanizes people. He's a persuader; he's an organizer; and he doesn't waiver until it's seen through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Such qualities have helped the British labor prime minister build a surprisingly good relationship with America's republican president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANDELSON: I think if you had asked me when President Clinton was in office whether a relationship like the one that he had with Tony Blair could ever be recreated between Mr. Blair and Clinton's successor, I would have said impossible. It's just too strong; it's too -- it's too deep; it works too well. I think we've seen in though. I think we have seen that in the relationship that now exists between Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: As he hobnobbed at European summits, some felt Blair's cheerleading for the U.S. could have undermined his other key aim, that of making Britain a more European nation than ever before. But Lord Powell believes he's managed so far to act as a bridge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: It's clear that Tony Blair believes that he can maintain a very close relationship with Washington without damaging Britain's relations with Europe indeed while retaining a leadership position in Europe, which is his ambition for Britain. I think on the whole I have to say he at least so far has done it. I believe there will be occasions in the future when those two aims will come into collision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Such a collision could come if the U.S. takes military action against Iraq. Several European leaders have made plain they want no part of any such extension of the war, which could pose an awkward choice for Mr. Blair. He did make new friends, though, with his impassioned plea for a new world order, countries coming together in a new spirit after September the 11th to tackle the problems of underdeveloped nations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAIR: The state of Africa is a scar on the conscious of the world. But if the world as a community focused on it, we could heal it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Some though say that's just dressed up real politic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: In some of the ways in which he has tried to broaden the issues to say that Afghanistan and the action against bin Laden's terrorists is all part of a wider scheme of things in which we have an interest in what goes on in Rwanda or the Congo is frankly political manipulation of the Labor Party. It is always hard to get the Labor Party on the side for military action in the world (ph), and particularly in support of the Americans, and he had to sit it in a wider context in order to achieve that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Other critics say Tony Blair's style is too presidential for British taste and accuse him of letting his eyes stray too often from domestic affairs. But admirers and critics agree he's shown depth and decisiveness in the roll of war leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAIR: It is important therefore that we never forget why we're doing it; never forget how we felt watching the planes fly into those twin towers; never forget those answering message machines; never forget how we felt imagining how mothers told children that they were about to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: Above all else, perhaps, it's that ability to articulate the feelings of the many, which has given Tony Blair his new status on the world stage. Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
