To Canada, where Mark Carney is settling into his first week in the top job. The former Bank of England governor won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election and has been quick to turn his attention to the growing animosity between his nation and its neighbour over Donald Trump’s tariffs. But what prompted the new Liberal party leader to go for the gig in the first place? The answer, it transpires, lies with one Tony Blair.
According to Monday’s episode of the News Agents podcast, it was the New Labour stalwart who inspired Carney to run – after a luxury dinner and jaunt around West London.
Co-host Emily Maitlis insisted that Carney had been considering going for the leadership ‘for a long time’. She went on:
He saw Justin Trudeau and he thought it only works if Trudeau goes quickly, “because if I don’t have enough time to bed in before the election then I can’t win an election”.
Apparently he was having dinner in the UK, the River Cafe, with Tony Blair in October, just a month before the US election. And this person who I was talking to said it was the moment he went for a walkabout with Tony Blair around the whole circumference of the restaurant in west London. He suddenly looked at the two of them and that’s when he knew he was going to run for prime minister.
How very curious. Tony Blair may no longer be running Britain but it seems he hasn’t quite been able to keep his tentacles out of other democracies…
Listen to the clip here:
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