Eight years after Tony Blair swept Labour to power on the promise of “education, education, education”, the UK suffered its deadliest terrorist incident since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Fifty-six people, including four Islamist extremist suicide bombers, were killed in the coordinated 7/7 attacks in London.
“It happened,” remembers Tony Blair, “at the very moment when we were holding the G8 summit in 2005 in Scotland, and when we had just won the Olympic bid… We won the Olympic bid, hosted the G8 summit and then we had these terrorist attacks, and I remember leaving the summit, going back to London, putting in place certain measures.”
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
