Rivalries

Tony Blair’s newly published memoir, A Journey, looks as though it will sell a few more copies than any of my efforts. One of the main themes of Blair’s book, inevitably, is his love-hate relationship with Gordon Brown (more hate than love, it would seem.) I’m utterly fascinated by that relationship, and have been for years, now not least because the nature of rivalry is a core theme of the book I’m currently writing.

The Blair-Brown rivalry is one of the all-time classics, because it is so closely allied with issues about power, idealism (or the lack of it) and personality. It involved great conflict, and so has great dramatic potential. To put it simplistically, one might say that Brown was, and is, intellectually superior to Blair, but was self-obsessed and lacked an ability to connect with people. Blair won elections, Brown either ran scared of them or lost them. To complicate matters, Blair had an almost messianic sense of what to do with his power ( whether one agrees with his view or loathes it), while Brown seems to have seethed with jealousy of his more telegenic colleague, and was more concerned with becoming top dog than deciding what to do once he became Prime Minister. Jealousy is another subject which fascinates me – it’s at the heart of The Serpent Pool.

Many commentators have described Brown as a sort of Shakespearean tragic hero, and there was something deeply moving about his (second) resignation speech after he lost the Election, when he finally dragged himself away from Downing Street and revealed himself as a husband and father (and no doubt, a very good one) rather than an economic wizard (almost certainly, a very bad one, unless you share his view that he saved the world during the credit crunch.) It’s a fair bet that, away from power, he will become happier and more fulfilled than he was when he achieved his political dream.

I once had lunch with Tony Blair, when he met up with a committee of which I was a member, about eighteen years ago. He was a very pleasant person to talk to, even though he was a lawyer who didn’t seem too interested in law. Of all the ministers and shadow ministers we met, Tory and Labour, he was by far the most charismatic. Yet, above all because of Iraq, many people revile him. This contrast between private and public images is yet another issue that offers enormous potential to the novelist. One day it’s a subject I’d like to tackle – perhaps through the medium of a thriller.

Quantum of Solace

I watched the new James Bond film several days ago, but I only just got my breath back. Talk about action-packed, it’s a thriller with non-stop car chases, boat chases, plane chases, killings, beatings and attempts to hold heads of state to ransom. Most people say that Casino Royale is a better movie than its successor, but I felt Quantum of Solace held its own, despite the dodgy title and even dodgier soundtrack and theme song (bizarrely, the classic 007 theme is held back until the end.) The success of the film is thanks in the main to Daniel Craig’s mesmeric performance as an agent bent on revenge and almost out of control, but Judi Dench is at her best as M, who has a larger role in events than usual.

Bond is still hurting after the murder of Vesper Lynd in the last film, and the action gets off to a flying start with a dramatic car chase followed by the discovery that M’s bodyguard is in the pay of the mysterious Quantum organisation. It turns out that one of the top dogs in Quantum is supposed eco-campaigner and front man of Greene Planet, Dominic Greene. The ruthless Greene is played by Mathieu Amalric, whose performance is terrifically creepy – in the style of a sort of eco-friendly Peter Lorre. Amalric apparently claims to have based his portrayal on a combination of Tony Blair and Nicolas Sarkozy. Presumably we must await the next film in the franchise for a villain with an outlandish plan for saving the world, inspired by Gordon Brown, (though it may be too scary to get away with a 12A certificate.)

To be honest, though, it’s best to forget the political edge to Amalric’s performance and the screenplay. Quantum of Solace is very good escapism. And we can all do with a dose of that, every now and then.