Newsweek: ““The Full Monty,’’ a funny movie about unemployed Britons who try to make money as male strippers, is your country’s most popular film. Does it say something about what you call ““new Britain’'?
Blair: We were going to see it a couple of weeks ago but then for some reason or other we couldn’t. Yes, I think it does [say something about new Britain]. Not merely in the sense that it’s a highly successful film, and that says something about the state of the British film industry now. There’s a great sense of confidence and adventure and a greater sense of comfort with ourselves in Britain now … I think the country is discovering a view of its own future that is actually very exciting–which is to do with Britain saying, ““Look, what we’re actually good at is being inventive, creative, dynamic and outward-looking.’’ It’s not about saying, ““What Britain’s about is living in the world of a hundred years ago, when guys wore bowler hats and umbrellas, all marching down Whitehall.''
You’ve often spoken of reforming the monarchy. How do you see that going now?
When I see the pageantry we’re able to put on for a state visit, I am perfectly comfort-able with that; I find no problems with that at all. But I don’t find that I need to have that define me and my generation and where we are … I think [the monarchy] will adapt and change, as it has been doing, and I think the royal family itself is very well aware of that, but people don’t want to destroy the royal family. On the contrary, they’ve got great respect for it. I find these two things live quite easily together, the tradition and the modernity.
How can you pay for your government’s reform program?
What defines the modern center and center-left, today, in Europe and elsewhere, is a program that mixes the tough choices and the compassion, that says we are tough on public finance. We are actually sorting out a lot of the mess left by the right-wing administrations. We are pro-education and welfare reform because that’s necessary to do. We’ve got to get people off welfare, into work, off dependence, into independence–a lot of the things that you’ve been talking about in the States, obviously. We’re parties of decentralization and where these new issues [are concerned]–I mean, they’re not new issues, but they’re issues that I think are racing up the agenda of public concern, like the family and crime–we’re ahead of the game.
When you were elected many of your European colleagues hoped relations between them and Britain would be more amicable than they had been under John Major and Margaret Thatcher. But you’ve made some decisions they’re unhappy with.
I would say our relations on the whole with the rest of Europe are very good. The only thing I’d also say to you is that we do need to argue the case for reform in Europe. Europe needs reform. But that’s not an anti-European statement.
Do some Europeans suspect you of being a sort of Anglo-American Trojan horse, of being in league with Washington?
Whenever that’s raised with me in Europe I go straight on to the attack and say, ““I plead absolutely guilty to wanting a strong, deep relationship between the United States and Europe, because that’s in the interests of both.''
A lot has been written about your friendship with Bill Clinton.
Yes, we talk regularly. I think it’s partly because we obviously share a lot of the same political ideas. But I have seen him in action in a lot of the international bodies and debates now, and he’s a really magnificent performer, and he does extremely well. [And] I think his instincts about where the U.S. has got to be in the world are very good and absolutely right.
Northern Ireland. You have taken some risks.
Yes. I seem to spend my entire life doing that at the moment!
What initiatives should we expect from you?
What I’m trying to do is develop a process and a framework that is as inclusive as possible. Of course it’s difficult talking to Sinn Fein and it will have distressed many people to see them coming into Downing Street. But I think it is just so important that we offer them the real chance to take the path of peace and democracy and get this thing sorted out, and we’re only going to get it sorted out if people are in a process where they’re talking to each other rather than trying to kill each other.
