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TONY Blair looked a tired man and he made no attempt to pretend otherwise. "It's been a difficult week," he admitted as he settled into the leather seat of an RAF BAe 146. The normally fresh features of his face were pale and drawn, the result of half a dozen nights with little sleep. As the photographer closed in to take some flash photos in the dim of the aircraft cabin, the PM joked: "You're going to need some softer light than that to do the trick."
TOUGH AT THE TOP: Tony Blair talks to the Daily Mirror over a cup of tea
on the plane to Warsaw. "It's been a difficult week," the Prime Minister admits The PM invited the Daily Mirror to join him on a trip to Warsaw at the end of one of the toughest weeks of his premiership. In the public arena, the strain of tackling the first firefighters' strike for a quarter of a century was occupying his mind. But behind the scenes Mr Blair was also wrestling with the growing threat to Britain posed by the al-Qaeda terror network. On top of that came preparations for a day-long summit of European socialist parties in Poland, involving meetings with no fewer than four other national leaders. Shirt-sleeved and sipping tea from a delicate china cup, Mr Blair was relaxed but seemed short of spark. Across the aisle, Labour Party chairman John Reid pulled up a blanket and fell asleep. Opposite Mr Reid, senior No 10 aide Sally Morgan studied some papers and chatted to another member of the small entourage. Mr Blair, however, was straight down to business, anxious to use the opportunity to speak directly to Daily Mirror readers. And he made no effort to conceal his worries about the terrorist threat. "There is no doubt that the al-Qaeda network, although it was severely damaged by the action in Afghanistan, is still there," he said. "It is certainly trying to plan attacks on virtually any country, frankly, as we saw with Bali, and yes there is a real and serious threat, there is no doubt about that at all. We have to try and do everything we can to avoid it, whilst letting people live their normal lives." HE refused to be drawn on specific intelligence but, aware of the arrest of the Tube suspects, he added: "The threat has always been there. "Obviously, they want to cause maximum carnage and they will do whatever they can to do it. They still have access to resources and although the centre of their activities in Afghanistan has been destroyed, there are still tentacles of it all round the world." After seven years in the job, Mr Blair is adept at dodging questions he doesn't want to answer. During the course of our interview, he did so on subjects ranging from Iraq and international terrorism to foxhunting and student fees. He was particularly reluctant to commit himself on whether Osama bin Laden was still alive. "The truth is I don't know, no one knows," he said. But challenged on US claims that an audio tape of bin Laden's voice released last week sounded genuine, he admitted: "Our view is the same as theirs, but you can't be sure. But this is more than about bin Laden. This is about an organisation. It is not an organised structure in the sense that we would understand it. He is certainly its figurehead but there are many other fanatics who would do the same." The PM revealed the pressure behind the scenes on the Bush administration to fully engage in the Middle East peace process to remove the cause of Islamic terrorism. He said: "It is very important that we fight this, not just at the level of security, but also at the level of ideas. We have got to reach out and engage with the Arab and Muslim world. "We have got to counter the fanatical religious propaganda, we have got to destroy these myths that somehow, for example in relation to Iraq, that we are after Saddam because he's a Muslim is nonsense. "We have also got to recognise the real anger in the Arab world over the Middle East peace process." It is clear the PM sees the future of the Arab world as tied inextricably to the safety and prosperity of the West. He acknowledged the Daily Mirror as one of his fiercest critics over the threat to start a war against Iraq without full United Nations backing. But he was unrepentant on the need to confront Saddam Hussein with military action if he failed to disarm. Mr Blair said: "I have always thought, which is why I strongly disagree with the position that the Mirror has taken on this, that the best chance for a peaceful solution is if we are absolutely uncompromising and tough and make it clear to Saddam that he has no choice but to disarm. He's got to let the inspectors back in. He has then got a certain length of time within which to declare what he has. "That is the way weapons inspections are supposed to work. The inspectors aren't playing a game of hide and seek. The inspectors' job is not to go searching around to see if they can find any. It is to be told where the weapons are, so that they can then inspect that they have been properly destroyed. ASKED how soon British troops might confront Saddam, he lapsed into non-communicative mode. The Prime Minister said: "He realises what the alternative is. "We have got to be prepared for that. It is not sensible at this stage to speculate on when we may take military action when, if he co-operates with the inspectors, we will never take it." After 30 minutes a note was passed from a Downing Street aide, suggesting our time was up. The PM used the remainder of the two-hour flight to catch up on some reading. He's already been spotted intently reading the Mirror and the Guardian. Now he settled down to catch up with what the enemy was saying - the right-wing Daily Telegraph. A weekend loomed at his country retreat, Chequers, but few of his aides believed he'd be getting much rest.
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