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Newly Released Files Show Blair Defied Advice on Women's Institute Speech
Files reveal Blair ignored officials' warnings and advisers pushed for a politically charged speech that alienated 10,000 Women's Institute members, causing a public backlash.
- Documents released to the National Archives show Tony Blair ignored advice to avoid `capital P politics` before his Women's Institute address at Wembley Arena, and the speech to an audience of 10,000 ended in heckles and forced him to cut it short.
- Inside No 10, Peter Hyman and David Miliband urged the speech to `seize the political moment` and `define the policy terrain`, while Anji Hunter, Sally Morgan, and Alastair Campbell warned it needed to be `more policy-rich` and not sound `too defensive` or `Majoresque`.
- Julian Braithwaite met Women's Institute leadership who wanted a vision of future communities and warned the draft had become `probably twice as long` than expected, with the Wembley Arena reaction cutting Blair short.
- The episode was widely read as evidence New Labour had lost touch with Middle England voters, and Tony Blair later recalled `I gave them a lecture, they gave me a raspberry`, reflecting the backlash.
- Inside No 10, officials and special advisers debated tone as Women's Institute leadership urged caution against party politics, highlighting tensions over political content in Blair's speech, National Archives at Kew files reveal.
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Blair ignored warnings over Women’s Institute speech fiasco
Newly-released files show PM was slow-handclapped after failing to heed a warning to avoid ‘capital P politics’ in his address. Tony Blair ignored warnings to avoid “capital P politics” in his infamous address to the Women’s Institute, according to newly released government files. The speech at Wembley Arena to an audience of 10,000 turned into a fiasco as the prime minister was heckled and slow-handclapped by WI members, furious he had used the…
The IndependentReposted by 
The Independent (US)
The Independent (US)New files reveal Tony Blair ignored warnings over infamous WI speech
Tony Blair’s infamous WI address of 10,000 members descended into chaos
·London, United Kingdom
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources4
Leaning Left3Leaning Right0Center1Last UpdatedBias Distribution75% Left
Bias Distribution
- 75% of the sources lean Left
75% Left
L 75%
C 25%
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