‘Too complacent’: how Blair’s advisers misjudged his disastrous WI speech

Tony Blair’s speech at the Women's Institute annual conference in 2000 was described by the media at the time as ‘an extraordinary error of political judgement’. Photograph: Peter Jordan/PA

Tony Blair’s key advisers agonised over the writing of his notoriously ill-judged speech to the Women’s Institute (WI) which saw the then prime minister heckled and slow hand-clapped before 10,000 members at Wembley Arena, newly released documents reveal.

Despite the WI explicitly warning they were “wary of anything that smacked of capital P politics”, Blair’s aides were critical of his first draft and bombarded him with additions to inject more policy.