newlabournewromantics

[newlabournewromantics]

[newlabournewromantics]

why are alastair campbell and rory stewart just dan and phil for neo-loliticians and the middle aged

[newlabournewromantics]

Reading William Blake’s A Poison Tree, I am struck by how precisely it captures the emotional architecture of betrayal — and more specifically, the slow, poisonous tragedy that was Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Blake writes of a man who is angry with his friend. When he speaks openly, the anger dissolves. But when he withholds it — when he nurtures it in silence, with false smiles and repressed fury — it festers. It grows. It becomes lethal. “And I sunned it with smiles, / And with soft deceitful wiles.” That is Blair in a line: grinning, hand on shoulder, promising unity while consolidating control. That is the premiership he stole.

Brown was never permitted to speak his wrath. He was the “friend,” sidelined, pacified, strung along. The agreement — if we can still call it that — was clear: Blair would lead first, then Brown. But time passed, and Blair stayed, endlessly reinventing himself, seduced by power and war and celebrity. And Brown, loyal and silent, became the man under the tree, watching the apple of power ripen under Blair’s control.

The tragedy, as Blake suggests, is not just personal. “In the morning glad I see / My foe outstretched beneath the tree.” But Blair never fell — not really. He stepped down into a lucrative afterlife of speeches and consultancy, his reputation wrapped in spin and sanctimony. It was Brown who inherited the poisoned garden — the broken party, the unspoken fury, the ruins of New Labour.

The Poison Tree is not just a poem about wrath. It is a poem about what happens when friendship is betrayed, and when one man — convinced of his own destiny — chooses personal glory over collective honour. Blair’s legacy, like Blake’s apple, gleamed bright. But it was bitter to the core.

And yes, I resent him for it.

[newlabournewromantics]

officeus manual, vol. 3

[newlabournewromantics]

my thesis on the undertones in the photography of new labour 1997-2010

[newlabournewromantics]

happy pride to the worst to ever do it

[newlabournewromantics]

ohhh tony blair and your messianic tendencies you will always be famous to me. truly such a strange and complex individual i need to study his brain chemistry under a microscope.

halsey, young god │ depeche mode, personal jesus │ phoebe bridgers, savior complex │ lorde, supercut │ bbc, the new labour revolution

[newlabournewromantics]

tony blair: new labour campaign trail by peter marlow

[newlabournewromantics]

The Deal (2003) >> Directing Communications

[newlabournewromantics]

can we discuss it

[newlabournewromantics]

new labour: appearance, vanity and exhibitionism

alpha dog, fall out boy | the man behind the smile: tony blair and the politics of perversion, leo abse | servants of the people: the inside story of new labour, andrew rawnsley | interview with stephen frears | the rivals: the intimate story of a political marriage, james naughtie | the third man, peter mandelson | the 1990 labour party conference | ‘brand ‘new’ labour?’, dominic wring | interview with the designer of the labour rose, michael wolff | things can only get better, d:ream, the 1997 labour party campaign song | moments, monuments and explication: the standing of the millennium dome, geoff lightfoot and simon lilley | new year's celebrations at the dome, 1st of january 2000 | 'the millennium dome 20 years on: revisiting a very british fiasco' | the end of the party: the rise and fall of new labour, andrew rawnsley | starfuckers, inc., nine inch nails | mockup of top of the pops chart, as featured in blair and brown: the new labour revolution (2021) | front page of the mirror, after blair's 'cool britannia' party | i get along, pet shop boys | clare short's testimony to the chilcot inquiry | anonymous annotation in a copy of the blair revolution revisited, peter mandelson

[newlabournewromantics]

the dare for the new yorker, taken by gillian laub

[newlabournewromantics]

[newlabournewromantics]

she emissary on my planet til i fuck

[newlabournewromantics]

nurse. NURSE. she's thinking about the homoeroticism of the new labour government again. NURSE she's making webweaves about 2 old men again. NURSE NURSE lock her up she has her first A-Level next friday and yet she's here, on tumblr, posting about these freaks. nurse. nurse she's sick in the head.

[newlabournewromantics]

Gordon Browns diary (real)

[newlabournewromantics]

punisher through the eyes of blair and brown — a lyric analysis

really a very important comparison to me, the things i deem most important are highlighted in red!

“when the speed kicks in i go to the store for nothing” the fabrication of false conflicts, used as an excuse to actually talk to each other

“and walk right by the house where you lived with snow white. i wonder if she ever thought the storybook tiles on the roof were too much,” the element of speculation and fantasy here mimics the psychological warfare that was embedded in the blair-brown relationship. never sure of what the other is thinking, but all too eager to imagine.

“but from the window, it’s not a bad show,” ie the separation between tbgb, constantly maintaining distance between their personal lives, and not letting the other too close. thinking here especially about how tony didn’t go to gordon’s wedding.

“if your favourite thing’s dianetics or stucco” parallels w tony’s catholicism to be drawn here.

“the drugstores are open all night, the only real reason I moved to the east side, i love a good place to hide in plain sight” brown being famously stubborn when it came to ignoring tony when times were difficult. that one quote about newlab knowing when things in government were bad because gordon would disappear, reappearing when things were better. hiding in plain sight ie tbgb using the professional relationship as a veneer for their deeply fractured emotional dynamic.

“what if I told you” the what if is crucial here, because they never properly talked!! aaaah!!!!

“i feel like I know you? but we never met” time warping both their relationship and each other, making tbgb both painfully familiar and unrecognisable to one another at the same time.

“and here, everyone knows you're the way to my heart” gossipy observer columns speculating on their personal affairs

“hear so many stories of you at the bar” tbgb having to hear about what one another is up to post-2007 through third parties, the relationship is so broken they can’t speak directly.

“most times, alone, and some, looking your worst” loneliness of being such a powerful presence like blair!

“but never not sweet to the trust funds and punishers” do i even need to explain this one

“man, i wish that i could say the same” gordon doesn’t enjoy the luxury of a good reputation in the same way tony does, he spends half of his time nowadays endlessly justifying his own record whilst blair gets to forget his mistakes.

“i swear i’m not angry, that's just my face” oh i may start to cry here. this is about gb, thinking about the clips of him sitting during cabinet meetings just totally listless, with a face like thunder. and him deep down regretting antagonising tb so much, but unable to break the pattern of doing so after all these years.

“a copycat killer with a chemical cut.” u guys know that one tb memo which is basically saying ‘gordon brown killed new labour’? yeah.

“either i’m careless or i wanna get caught” do you think that gordon got a sense of satisfaction from slowly purging new labour of its blairisms post-2010? unable to kill the man, he killed his ideas instead

“i can't open my mouth and forget how to talk,” reflecting just how deeply-rooted the tbgb tension was — neither tony nor gordon can even reflect on that period of their lives without the interpersonal dynamic shaping the narrative

“cause even if I could, wouldn't know where to start” gordon reflecting very little on the emotional and personal aspects of his relationship w tony in his post-power books

“wouldnt know when to stop.” vs tony writing pages and pages about him and gordon.