I saw Blair’s good and bad sides, and we live with the consequences

THERE is no excuse for the bad manners shown to Tony Blair when he went to Easons in Dublin to sign copies of his memoir, A Journey.

Whatever your views on him, and mine are ambivalent, he put an extraordinary amount of time and energy into saving lives in Northern Ireland, and even though he has made a personal fortune through speechmaking around the world, he spends much of his life working unpaid to bring peace to the Middle East. In an era when Christianity and Islam are in conflict in many parts of the world, his Faith Foundation seeks to promote respect between religions and multi-faith action against global poverty.

On Monday in Philadelphia, his friend Bill Clinton awarded Blair the National Constitution Centre’s prestigious Liberty Medal for his work in promoting human rights and conflict resolution.