Tony Blair has given an interview in today’s Guardian in which he robustly defends (almost) all of his actions as Prime Minister. Notable exceptions include the ban on fox-hunting and, somewhat surprisingly, the Freedom of Information Act. Thus, Martin Kettle of the Guardian reports: ‘Some things about his record in office he does not defend. One is the Freedom of Information Act. “It’s not practical for government,” he says. “If you are trying to take a difficult decision and you’re weighing up the pros and cons, you have frank conversations. Everybody knows this in their walk of life. Whether you are in business – or running a newspaper – there are conversations you want to have preliminary to taking a decision that are frank. And if those conversations then are put out in a published form that afterwards are liable to be highlighted in particular ways, you are going to be very cautious. That’s why it’s not a sensible thing.”’ Query whether the current PM would be prepared to make a similar declaration. You can find the article here.