Labor will rue the day they cast out Tony Blair.

Question: What will the legacy of Tony Blair be?

Jeffrey Archer: Hard to say at this early stage. He only was removed from office, or resigned from office a few months ago, a formidable prime minister, and a formidable politician, and I suspect the Labor party will regret losing him.

Question: In what state did Tony Blair leave Britain?

Jeffrey Archer: Well, a middle class Britain; we have taken over a very strong economy and he had left the same strong economy. He made some genuine, very brilliant reforms, and his record will bear watching what a saddened, what blot to that record or harm it is; Iraq.

The fact that he was so willing to--it looked to some of us just fall in line with President [George W.] Bush.

I think Margaret Thatcher would have stood out to President Bush and said, “So far a no feather.”

If you take away Iraq, which you can’t from the Blair Legacy, it is a very impressive premiership. But he would be settled historically; he will be settled with Iraq.

Recorded on: March 15, 2008.