It's a political memoir with celebrity trappings — secrecy, security, a multimillion-dollar deal and, crucially, controversy.
Tony Blair's "A Journey" was stirring political passions even before it hits bookstores Wednesday, with excerpts revealing that the former British prime minister has cried for soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq, but still thinks it was right to invade and topple Saddam Hussein.
The book also reveals, according to the U.K. Daily Mail, that he began to drink alcohol every day while in office and started to rely on it as a 'support.' He also discusses his impressions of the Royal family and their behavior in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death.
The decision to go to war remains Blair's most divisive legacy. In excerpts from the book released by the publisher late Tuesday, Blair says "I ... regret with every fiber of my being the loss of those who died."
"Tears, though there have been many, do not encompass it," he says.
But, he says, "on the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him and that, terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse."
"I can't regret the decision to go to war," he says.
Blair also reopens domestic political wounds, saying he found his rival and successor Gordon Brown difficult and maddening.
British booksellers are reporting heavy interest in the book, for which Blair was paid an estimated 4.6 million pounds ($7.5 million). He's donating the proceeds to a charity for injured troops.
'Initial sales will be huge'
Billed by publisher Random House as a "frank, open" account of life at the top, "A Journey" is being published in a dozen countries, alongside an e-book and an audio version read by Blair himself. It's in the top 10 on Amazon's British best-seller list — though it's only 4,000 on the retailer's U.S. site.
"Initial sales will be huge," said Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles book store chain. "But whether those sales are sustained will depend on how frank and open it is."
Blair — who is scheduled to be in Washington on publication day, attending Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in his role as an international Mideast envoy — has said he "set out to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as prime minister."
"A Journey" promises to give readers behind-the-curtain insights into major world events from the death of Princess Diana to the Sept. 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq.
It is unlikely to resolve the conflicting views and emotions Blair evokes.
Drinking and Diana
In the book, the former Prime Minister confesses he started to drink more in office.
"Stiff whisky or G&T before dinner, couple of glasses of wine or even half a bottle with it. So not excessively excessive. I had a limit. But I was aware that it had become a prop."He started to become concerned about his drinking and worried that it was distracting him from working.
He speaks glowingly about Princess Diana. "She captured the essence of an era and held it in her hand. She defined it. ... She was extraordinarily captivating."
But, according to the Daily Mail, he says that Diana was manipulative and says he felt 'ill at ease' with Queen Elizabeth, whom he felt was 'haughty'.He describes the Princess of Wales as 'down to earth, charming and intelligent but also stubborn and prone to be over emotional'.
Blair was prime minister in July, 1997 when he was awoken at 2 a.m. by a policeman telling him Diana had been gravely injured in a car crash. He learned of her death two hours later.
In the book, according to the Daily Mail, he writes that, he wanted to 'manage' the situation and shape the public grief that would follow. He drafted his famous 'People's Princess' speech on the back of an envelope with the help of his director of commuinications. Blair says at the time, Prince William was angry about his mother's death, and burdened by the 'prison of hereditary tradition'.
More highlights from "A Journey."—On the Catholic-Protestant divide in Northern Ireland: "Then there are attitudes which, to us, seem absurd, comic even, but to them are defining. I remember before the 1997 election a leading Orangeman describing me as unfit to be prime minister because my wife was a painted jezebel who claimed her allegiance to Rome." —On George W. Bush: "George had immense simplicity in how he saw the world. Right or wrong, it led to decisive leadership." "I had come to like and admire George. I was asked recently which of the political leaders I had met had most integrity. I listed George near the top. ... He was, in a bizarre sense ... a true idealist." —On the invasion of Iraq: "On the basis of what we do know now, I still believe that leaving Saddam in power was a bigger risk to our security than removing him and that, terrible though the aftermath was, the reality of Saddam and his sons in charge of Iraq would at least arguably be much worse. ... I am unable to satisfy the desire even of some of my supporters, who would like me to say: it was a mistake but one made in good faith. Friends opposed to the war think I'm being obstinate; others, less friendly, think I'm delusional. To both I may say: keep an open mind." —On his successor, Gordon Brown: "Was he difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect. ... Political calculation, yes. Political feelings, no. Analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero."
Polarizing figure
For many Americans, he remains a well-regarded ally who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in the fight against international terrorism. He's scheduled to receive the 2010 Liberty Medal from former President Bill Clinton in Philadelphia on Sept. 13.
At home, he is a more polarizing figure. Swept to power in 1997 on a wave of popular enthusiasm, Blair left office a decade later reviled by many for taking Britain into the U.S.-led Iraq war, and viewed as a liability by much of his own Labour Party.
"He began as a leader who was a friend of everyone, and he finished as a friend of almost no one in Britain," said Blair biographer Anthony Seldon.
Anti-war groups say they will picket Blair's book signings in Dublin on Saturday and in London on Sept. 8. Both are high-security affairs at which book buyers will have to surrender their bags, cameras and mobile phones — and are barred from asking for personal dedications.
Blair, 57, stepped down in June 2007 after a decade that included a historic peace accord in Northern Ireland, the deeply unpopular war in Iraq and the continuing conflict in Afghanistan.
He was Labour's most successful leader for decades, moved the left-leaning party toward the center and brought it back to power after 18 years in opposition.
But when he left, after years of increasingly open hostility with Brown, his party was divided.
In the book, Blair calls Brown "difficult, at times maddening," but says "he was also strong, capable and brilliant."
Brown, and Labour, lost power in an election in May, and Blair does not exactly heap praise on his time in office.
"It is easy to say now, in the light of his tenure as prime minister, that I should have stopped it; at the time that would have been well nigh impossible," Blair writes.
Blair has been at the center of numerous books, notably "The Blair Years," by former press secretary Alastair Campbell, and the recently published memoir "The Third Man," by Labour insider Peter Mandelson.
He was also the inspiration for the former prime minister dogged by allegations of war crimes in Robert Harris' thriller "The Ghost," which was turned into a film by Roman Polanski.
Seldon said most political memoirs are self-serving, "historically pretty useless" and don't live up to the hype.
Blair insists his will be different, and Seldon says the former politician is part of a small group whose words may have wide appeal.
"Britain doesn't have many prime ministers who are international figures," said Seldon. "We have had Churchill, we have had Thatcher, we have had Blair."