Blair Memoirs: Blair's regret at imposing ban on hunting

His memoirs reveal the Hunting Act was "one of the domestic legislative measures I most regret" and he confesses he was "ignorant" about the sport when he made the "rash undertaking" to agree to a ban.

"If I'd proposed solving the pension problem by compulsory euthanasia for every fifth pensioner I'd have got less trouble for it," he writes.

His comments – made in his book A Journey, which was last night declared to have become the fastest-selling autobiography – give a fresh insight into one of the most controversial acts of Mr Blair's premiership but are likely to do little to appease critics of the ban.

While anti-hunting campaigners complain Labour took too long to introduce the ban, Mr Blair claims he became more desperate to avoid one as he learned more about the sport.

In the end, he argues, he conjured up a "masterly British compromise" as MPs finally backed a ban in 2004 despite furious protests from the hunting lobby. "It was banned in such a way that, provided certain steps are taken to avoid cruelty when the fox is killed, it isn't banned", he writes.

The ban ranks alongside the Freedom of Information Act – which he fears could inhibit debate by Ministers – in terms of legislation he regrets.

Reflecting on the solution, he concludes: "It was the best I could do, but not an episode of policymaking I look back on with pride. And I should think not, I hear you say."

He even admits telling Home Office Minister Hazel Blears to advise police not to enforce the ban vigorously, and having a wager with Prince Charles in which he pledged hunting would still be going on when he left office, although his comments will do little to appease hunt supporters who lost their battle against the ban.

"Prince Charles truly knew the farming community and felt we didn't understand it, in which there was an element of truth," he admits.

Mr Blair also reveals he considers it a "total miracle" that British farming came through the foot and mouth crisis which shut down swathes of the countryside in 2001 and forced the General Election to be postponed.

Ministers were criticised in official reports for being slow to respond to the first outbreaks of disease, with the eventual mass slaughter leading to the loss of seven million animals.

As a "palpable sense of crisis" grew, Mr Blair writes of feeling "distinctly queasy and, yes, frightened by it". The Government "didn't have the foggiest notion" how many animals were affected and he confesses to being "overwhelmed" by the whole situation as pictures of pyres with burning carcasses filled news bulletins.

Only when he made an effort to "grip" the situation through "deep immersion" in every detail, and called in chief scientific adviser Sir David King, did the tide finally begin to turn, he says.

"By the time it was under control in the summer, I knew everything there was to know about it: how it started; how it was spread; the methods of containment; the pros and cons of slaughter and vaccination; the different reactions of sheep and cattle; the impact on humans; the workings of farms and abattoirs; the numbers of animals normally slaughtered in a week and the number we eat in a year.

"But I also learned more about crisis management and the utter incapacity of the normal system to deal with abnormal challenges than I had ever needed to learn before.

"Though the public naturally thought we mishandled it and no one gave us any thanks for any of it, actually when I look back and reread the papers, reminding myself of the sheer horror, depth and scale of the crisis, it is a total miracle we came through it."

A Countryside Alliance spokesman said Mr Blair's re-writing of history would not fool anyone. "He, and he alone, was responsible for the rejection of the 'middle way' proposals for licensed hunting and the passing of a complete ban on all hunting."

Labour warned not to drift to left as votes cast

TONY Blair has warned the party not to drift to the left as he used his memoirs to launch a scathing attack on Gordon Brown.

In his memoirs, published on the day the first votes were cast in the leadership election, the former Prime Minister warned that Labour faces defeat at the next election if it abandons his New Labour agenda.

Mr Blair's book – A Journey – lays bare the rift between himself and Mr Brown during his time in power, as well as his concerns about his chancellor's fitness to follow him into 10 Downing Street.

Describing Mr Brown as brilliant but "maddening", Mr Blair blamed his successor for losing the last election by deviating from the New Labour message.

"Labour won when it was New Labour. It lost because it stopped being New Labour," he wrote.

"This is not about Gordon Brown as an individual...Had he pursued New Labour policy, the personal issue would still have made victory tough, but it wouldn't have been impossible. Departing from New Labour made it so."

Mr Blair said he knew before leaving office that Mr Brown could well be a "disaster" as Prime Minister.

And he revealed that he advised David Miliband in 2007 that he might beat Mr Brown if he stood against him as a New Labour candidate for the succession.

In a warning to the party as it prepares to select a new leader, Mr Blair wrote: "The danger for Labour now is that we drift off, or even move decisively off, to the left. If we do, we will lose even bigger next time."

In an apparent rebuke to candidates standing on a platform of opposition to spending cuts, Mr Blair warned: "If Labour simply defaults to a 'Tory cutters, Lib Dem collaborators' mantra, it may well benefit in the short-term.

"However, it will lose any possibility of being chosen as an alternative government."

Page after page of the memoir catalogued disagreements with Mr Brown and the "relentless personal pressure" from the then chancellor for Mr Blair to quit.

In one of the most sensational passages, Mr Blair effectively accused Mr Brown of blackmail for threatening to trigger

an investigation into the cash-for-honours affair if the PM did not back down in a row on pensions.

Barnsley East MP Michael Dugher, a former aide to Mr Brown, said it was "slightly unkind and unfair" to brand him as a "strange guy" who lacked emotional intelligence.

What Blair thought about PMQs, Iraq and George Bush

On the decision to go to war with Iraq: "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 feelings ahead of his departure: "In a curious way, I felt sorry for the party and I more or less remained like that up to the point of departure. By then, I had come to the clear and settled view that unless Gordon spelt out whether he was New Labour or something different – and defined the 'something different' – it was going to be a disaster. I knew it."

On the Millennium Dome: "I think as bad decisions go, it wasn't a frightful one ... It wasn't dreadful. It just wasn't brilliant ... I looked forward to the evening of the turn of a new millennium with all the fervour of a visit to the dentist."

On Prime Minister's Questions: "PMQs was the most nerve-racking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining experience in my prime ministerial life, without question."

On the support he received from his wife Cherie following the death of Labour leader John Smith: "That night she cradled me in her arms and soothed me; told me what I needed to be told; strengthened me; made me feel that what I was about to do was right."

On walking into Downing Street following Labour's landslide 1997 general election victory: "My predominant feeling was fear, and of a sort unlike anything I had felt before."

On former US President George Bush: "One of the most ludicrous caricatures of George is that he was a dumb idiot who stumbled into the presidency."

Describing a barbecue at Balmoral with the Royal Family in 1998: "The Royals cook and serve the guests. They do the washing-up. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. They put the gloves on and stick their hands in the sink. You sit there having eaten, the Queen asks if you've finished, she stacks the plates up and goes off to the sink."

On the Freedom of Information Act: "Freedom of Information. Three harmless words. I look at those words as I write them and feel like shaking my head till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible, nincompoop."

Stars in his eyes

A host of celebrities from footballers to Hollywood stars make appearances in the pages of Tony Blair's memoirs.

The former prime minister lavishes praise on his famous acquaintances, describing Diana, Princess of Wales, as "extraordinarily captivating" and film director Lord Attenborough as "just a superlative human being".

David Beckham was a "complete pro" in supporting London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, Kevin Spacey was a "really fun guy" at Labour's 2002 autumn party conference, while U2 frontman and anti-poverty campaigner Bono is "great with people, very smart and an inspirational speaker".

Mr Blair was criticised in office for his fondness for entertaining stars from the worlds of television, film, music and sport.

The book records how, from his earliest days in politics, Mr Blair instinctively felt his party needed to use popular culture.