The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was so badly shaken by the bloody aftermath of the Iraq invasion and the widespread anger it provoked that he descended into a deep depression and considered quitting.
A new book, based on hundreds of interviews with Mr. Blair's inner circle, claims that his physical and mental condition had deteriorated so much by the spring of 2004 that came close to a nervous breakdown. He found it difficult to sleep and often woke up in the middle of the night in cold sweat. His colleagues are reported as saying he could barely concentrate and there were occasions during the Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons that he “spaced out'' several times.
“His morale was collapsing, his health was deteriorating, his unpopularity was spiralling and many of the ambitions of a badly wounded leader seemed to have crumbled to dust. He had hit the rock bottom of his premiership,'' writes Andrew Rawnsley, a leading British political commentator in The End of the Party, extracts from which were published by The Observer on Sunday .
As Iraq descended into a civil war and he faced accusations of having blood on his hand, Mr. Blair felt “stuck in this dark tunnel and could see no way out of it,'' according to a senior aide Sally Morgan quoted in the book.
Lonely, tired
Peter Mandelson, one of his closest friends and advisers, is reported saying Mr. Blair was so worn out that he was prepared to “walk away from it all''. Tessa Jowell, a Cabinet Minister close to him, recalls that he was “very low...very lonely...very tired''. His claim that Gordon Brown, who succeeded Mr. Blair in 2007, “bullies'' his staff has provoked a huge political row. But, contrary to initial fears, it has had no impact on public opinion in the run-up to the general election in May with a new poll showing that Labour has nearly caught up with the Tories and could end up forming the next government.
