The Blair story

To John Self, Charles Highway and Keith Talent must now be added another unforgettable Martin Amis character: Tony Blair. Today’s must read is the author’s eyewitness account in the Guardian of the PM’s last days. There are plenty of classic Amis phrases. I particularly enjoyed ; “the white-lipped and bloody-minded persistence of the question of Iraq”;  the description of John Prescott as a “battered sensualist”; “the full totalitarian motorcade” in Washington; and Gordon Brown as “all fish and chips and Woodbine” compared to the sleek Blair. Amis is refreshingly candid about the “mildly but deplorably flirtatious” relationship he quickly established with his subject: this, after all, is what Blair does, to individuals and to nations.”You’ve got steel. Like your car,” Martin says to Tony. “Mm. Armour-plated,” replies the PM.

Along the way, the novelist captures some essential truths about Blair. He doesn’t wear a seatbelt in the car, or a flak jacket in Baghdad: he sees himself as “a true exceptionalist – one of the chosen, the saved, the elect.”