January 2007

BLAIR AT WAR: PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK DANZIGER

24 February - 15 July 2007
Room 38a. Free admission.
In association with The Times

In March 2003, as Tony Blair took the final steps towards leading the nation to war with Iraq, award-winning photojournalist Nick Danziger and Times Literary Supplement editor Peter Stothard were given thirty days of unprecedented access to the Prime Minister and his closest aides.

On display to the public for the first time, Danziger's portraits tell the candid story of a decisive time in Britain's political history. Revealing the inner circle of the political players in Downing Street, at Camp David and in the power corridors of Europe, these portraits provide a poignant insight into Blair's hopes and fears as he took on a sceptical electorate, the Labour Party, Jacques Chirac and ultimately Saddam Hussein.

On their first day of thirty days with Tony Blair, Danziger and Stothard are in 'the den' at Downing Street. 'So they are all against me, is that it?' Blair asks Alastair Campbell, Director of Communications and Strategy. Campbell does not reply. With the leaders of France and Germany, the leader of the House of Commons, the leading figures in the Trade Unions, about half his own MPs, including Cabinet Minister, Clare Short, all opposed to war with Saddam, he doesn't have to tell the Prime Minister what he already knows.

Four years on, the war in Iraq continues and Tony Blair is preparing to hand over leadership of the Labour Party. As Britain considers the legacy left by our Prime Minister of the past 10 years, Danziger's portraits, displayed alongside new captions by Stothard, remind us of 'Blair at War'.

On the display of this exceptional private view of the Prime Minister, Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London says: 'Danziger's closely observed portraits of Tony Blair take us to the heart of statesmanship: to the interaction between world leaders at a critical moment.'

For further press information please contact: Catherine Bromley, Press Office, National Portrait Gallery Tel: 020 7321 6620 (not for publication Email: cbromley@npg.org.uk

National Portrait Gallery opening hours: Saturday - Wednesday 10am - 6pm, Thursdays and Fridays 10am - 9pm Recorded information: 020 7312 2463 General information: 020 7306 0055 Website: www.npg.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Tony Blair agreed for a writer and a freelance photographer commissioned by The Times Magazine to be with him on the path to war with Iraq. Nick Danziger's portraits and Peter Stothard's diary account were subsequently published in The Times Magazine on 3 May 2003.
• Thirty Days: Tony Blair and the Test of History by Peter Stothard was published by HarperCollins in July 2003.
• Peter Stothard was editor of The Times from 1992 to 2002.
• The last portrait featured (of Tony Blair and George Bush) as part of this display, was awarded 1st Prize in the 'Single Portrait' category of the World Press Photo Awards, 2004. A set of these portraits also won a 'Special Award' as part of the 2004 Nikon Photo Essay of the Year awards.
• Nick Danziger recently returned from Afghanistan where he had unique access to Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan and continues to photograph senior political figures in Europe, Asia and North America. He is currently involved in two projects: the BBC Broadcasting House Public Art Programme, and World Vision's focus on the Millennium Development Goals and their impact on people, especially children living in extreme poverty.
  

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 21 August 2008