Along with the horror unfolding from London last night, it was interesting to see an unscripted Tony Blair. Speaking in
Gleneagles about three hours after the attacks, he looked quite
different from his usual polished self. It wasn’t a very good speech –
talking about his travel arrangements before condemning the terrorists
sounded silly – but it nonetheless made him seem more human.

It was similar, in a way, to the previous time I’d seen him on TV – on
Wednesday morning in Singapore when he addressed the IOC in French.
Not that that was unscripted – I’m sure he’d been carefully coached –
but it gave the same sense of the unfamiliar, and he sounded more
appealing as a result. Our politicians should realise that when they
move out of their spin-controlled comfort zone they actually seem like
nicer people.