By Ben Brown ’14 and Michael Kelley ’14

Photo by Steven Tringali ’13/ The Lafayette

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair encouraged open-mindedness to combat the global financial crisis as well as the unrest in the Middle East.

“I think in today’s world this is the toughest time I can remember to be a leader,” Blair said to a packed Kirby Sports Center. “The world is living through what I would call an era of almost uniquely low predictability.”

Since Blair resigned in 2007 after 10 years in office, the United States and the world have weathered a major financial crisis.

“We are all, in the developed world, living with this challenge,” Blair said. “The financial crisis has exposed the need for our societies to change. What the financial crisis has done is accelerate the need for that change, not created it.”

Blair currently serves as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East, working toward Palestinian peace with Israel.

Blair offered both a short term and long term vision of foreign involvement in the Middle East.

“The short term politics is very clear: disengage,” Blair said. “Unfortunately, it’s my view, that these problems are not going to sort themselves out and will require us to remain engaged.”

Earlier this morning, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 87, died of a stroke. According to The Express-Times, Blair did not consider canceling his visit to Lafayette, but did alter the beginning of his speech to honor her legacy.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who better expresses the sense of the life of promoting liberty than Margaret Thatcher,” he said. “Whether you agreed with her or disagreed with her—and I plenty of times where I disagreed with her—she was a remarkable and empowering figure.”

The audience was captivated from the start as Blair recalled meeting Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Saturday in Jerusalem. Casey recommended Blair visit Pennsylvania, to which Blair replied, “Well, I’m going on Monday, actually.” He added that, “Bob went away with a greatly enhanced sense of his own powers of persuasion.”

Students appreciated Blair’s informal, light-hearted style.

“He really made people feel like they could relate to him, which is nice to feel that kind of connection, especially with someone in that high of power,” sophomore Stephen Bezer said.

Blair closed his remarks with a sense of hope in the face of global challenges.

“We live in a world of great challenge and unpredictability today. But I also think it’s a world where I feel the human spirit with God’s blessing should give us cause for optimism. And for that I think we should all be thankful.”