Tony Blair, when prime minister, was noted for his habit of modifying his accent to suit his audience
I am not one who thought that this was necessarily a deliberate, still less a cynical, ploy on his part. I used to do it myself until I learned to control it, when I was past 40. Sticking to an accent different from that of those you were talking with seemed to me to be like singing out of tune.
Moving to a new area where the children at school mock your funny accent does wonders for your ability to mimic
I caught a small part of an interview with Tony Blair about Gaza on the radio this morning
Goodness he has got plummy now. The way he pronounced the word ‘resolve’ had me gaping at the set
The Times last week carried a leader asserting that the British diplomat’s “air of suave condescension” has long been swept away, which came as welcome news to anyone who was ever on the receiving end
But if Tony Blair’s accent has been acquired, chameleon-like, from the diplomatic circles he moves in now, then The Times was, alas, mistaken in its assertion
