The BBC has secured the first major political interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair since he retired from office.
Andrew Marr will interview Tony Blair in an exclusive one hour interview on BBC Two, the public broadcaster has announced.
Commenting on the planned interview, which takes place on Wednesday 1 September at 7pm, Andrew Marr says:
“Having the chance to speak to the former PM for an hour is a remarkable opportunity to learn more about what he was trying to achieve in office and how with hindsight he now regards his record.”
It will be the first major retrospective TV interview about Tony Blair’s time at number 10 Downing Street since he stood down in 2007; and will coincide with the launch of his memoirs, A Journey.
All proceeds of Mr Blair memoirs are being donated to the British Legion, the UK charity providing help to serving and ex-service men and women and their families.
The £4.6m advance and all royalties from the memoirs, which are expected to be hugely successful such is the interest in the politician across the world, and especially in North America, are to be donated to the British Legion Battle Back Challenge Centre, a sports centre for injured soldiers which is planned to open in 2012.
A spokesman for Tony Blair said: “In making this decision, Tony Blair recognises the courage and sacrifice the armed forces demonstrate day in, day out.
“As prime minister he witnessed that for himself in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Kosovo. This is his way of honouring their courage and sacrifice.
“We have been consulting with a number of people and organisations to decide the best support he can give. There is one project consistently highlighted: The Royal British Legion’s Battle Back Challenge Centre.”
The announcement was recently made by Gail Rebuck, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Random House Group.
Tony Blair: The Journey is being published in the UK by Hutchinson and simultaneously in the United States by Knopf, and in Canada by Knopf Canada, imprints of the Random House Group.
Gail Rebuck says: “Tony Blair’s The Journey will break new ground in prime ministerial memoirs just as Blair himself broke the mould of British politics.
“His book is frank, open, revealing and written in an intimate and accessible style. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenge of leadership in today’s world.”
Tony Blair has also spoken about his pleasure in writing his memoirs.
“I have really enjoyed the writing of the book. I have tried to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as Prime Minister, he says.
“Though necessarily retrospective, it is an attempt to inform and shape current and future thinking as much as an historical account of the past. Most of all I want readers to have as much pleasure reading it as I had writing it.”
Since leaving office Tony Blair’s various roles have included working as a UN peace envoy for the Middle East and lecturing at Yale University on international affairs.

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