Casting a new light on war-time Blair

If only the Hutton Report had pictures. Politics can often obfuscate issues that need clarity, and for this reason alone Nick Danziger's 30-day study of Tony Blair is a must-see.

Taken as part of an assignment for The Times to mark Blair's 50th birthday in 2003, the series of 24 black and white photographs selected from the study shed incremental light on a prime minister at war.

Former Times editor Peter Stothard's accompanying text reads like a diary, starting with Blair's March 14 telephone conversation with Yasser Arafat - including reassurances that the events are intended 'to end the suffering of the Palestinian people'.

The usual run of standard backdrops are given a personal twist, a children's trampoline and playset in the garden of No.10 offering a suburban spin to an al fresco chat between Blair and Alastair Campbell.

Meanwhile, a shot of the PM listening to Jacques Chirac outside the European Council meeting on March 21 gives new meaning to the term 'corridors of power', the French president giving his unfiltered opinion on the war under strip lighting in a stark hallway.

Until Jul 15, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place WC2, daily 10am to 6pm (Thu and Fri to 9pm), free. Tel: 020 7306 0055. Tube: Leicester Square

Blair at War: Photographs by Nick Danziger
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE