Paul Keating’s secret advice to Britain

Tony Blair has described Paul Keating as a ‘role model’ who inspired New Labour.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair

Tony Blair has described Paul Keating as a “role model” and progenitor of centrist “third-way” politics that inspired New Labour, and revealed Mr Keating was a secret adviser while he was British prime minister.

“I used him to get a sense of where we were as a government, and he was very clear about how we had to keep momentum up and stay together, remain in the centre and not drift to the left,” Mr Blair said in an interview.

“I also used to use him as a sounding board on the Far East, particularly where I thought he had insights around China and Indonesia that I didn’t really get from my system in the same way. I found him very informative, very knowledgeable and very helpful.”

The Blair-Keating relationship, far deeper and more influential than previously understood, is revealed in a new biography of Mr Keating published by Scribe.

Mr Keating also secretly ­advised Gordon Brown, who succeeded Mr Blair as prime minister in 2007. They met several times at the prime minister’s residence, No 10, spoke occasionally on the phone and Mr Keating wrote him letters with frank ­advice.

Alastair Campbell, who served as Mr Blair’s communications ­director, revealed Mr Keating ­offered both British prime ministers suggestions on policy and political strategy and shared his candid assessments of world leaders. “That is not to be under­estimated,” Mr Campbell said in the book.

Mr Blair, prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said Mr Keating was a “towering” and “influential” figure in centre-left politics around the world and his advice was ­always welcomed at No 10.

“Paul is someone with real depth and character, and far more sensitive than the brawler image suggested,” he said. “He has the characteristics of someone who is a genuine statesman. He tries to think ahead for his country and for the world in a way that is reasonably dispassionate and can be very courageous. He is somebody who, in the end, will always put his country first, even if it is not popular.”

Mr Blair said Mr Keating’s centrist politics was instructive for the Australian Labor Party and the British Labour Party today. He urged both parties to occupy the political centre, focus on the future, develop practical policies and eschew the temptation to be a protest party rather than a party capable of governing.

Mr Blair regretted the unwillingness to heed the “very clear lessons” about the how he and Mr Keating won elections and governed. “The left wins when it has got a strong, driving mission that is clearly taking the country forward and has a broad enough coalition of support to sustain you in government,” he said.

He revealed that he looked to the ALP, led by Mr Keating and Bob Hawke, just as much as he did to Bill Clinton’s New Democrats in the US. Mr Blair and Mr Brown had met Mr Keating on several trips to Australia in the 1980s and early 90s when he was treasurer.

“The Australian Labor Party was electable and the British ­Labour Party was not,” Mr Blair said. “We were both big fans of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. Paul, particularly, was quite a role model for both of us because he was younger and he had the ­finance brief.

“We had a huge respect for him and for the Australian Labor Party because it was tough, coherent, and able to win power and keep power. So for me, the Australian Labor Party was a model, because of the capability of its leadership and because they had the formula which seemed to be enduring.”

Mr Keating saw Mr Blair and Mr Brown as modernisers and their relationship extended through to British Labour’s rule from 1997 to 2010.

“Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were seeing their model in Britain somewhat akin to the model we had established in Australia and therefore, being both young men and ambitious young men, I thought they were worth investing time and ­effort in,” Mr Keating said.

Troy Bramston is the author of Paul Keating: The Big-Picture Leader (Scribe) published on Monday.