Blair Accused of Plagiarizing Fictional Account of His Own Life

by Brea Tremblay | 5:06 pm, September 9th, 2010

» 4 comments

In a case of life imitating art imitating life, former Prime Minister Tony Blair has been accused of stealing material from his fictional self.

In his recently released memoir A Journey, Blair recounts a 1997 conversation with Queen Elizabeth II. Upon meeting Blair, the Queen remarked. “You are my 10th prime minister, Mr. Blair. My first was Winston Churchill.”

The moment will be familiar to anyone who’s seen the award-winning 2006 movie, The Queen staring Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen.

The problem? According to screenwriter Peter Morgan, the conversation was make believe. “I wish I could pretend that I had inside knowledge,” he told the Telegraph. “But I made up those lines.”

Random House, the publisher of A Journey, responded to questions from the New York Times with an email stating “As Tony Blair says whenever he is asked about it, he hasn’t actually ever seen the film The Queen.”

In A Journey, currently Number 12 on Amazon.com’s Bestseller list, Blair discusses his years in office, describing the death of Princess Diana, the Iraq War, and his burgeoning drinking habit, a subject which may or may be related to his possible memory issues.

Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen, Tony Blair

http://www.facebook.com/people/Andy-Lamb/1085325013 Andy Lamb

Such bullshit from some screenwriter. Blair IS the 10th Prime Minister of England under the Queen. Is it so outlandish to think that she would say “you are my 10th prime minister, Mr. Blair, my first was Winston Churchill” to him? Jesus, how asinine to accuse him of plagiarism based on such a bland statement that the Queen could easily have made to him, regardless of some dumb ass mmovie.
http://SailRabbits.com Magister

There’s really nothing to indicate that the Queen didn’t say the line to Mr. Blair and it sounds like Mr. Frears and the screenwriter have the correct attitude about the situation..
http://SailRabbits.com Magister

PS) After looking at the above photo and watching several clips from Kids in the Hall that have been recently uploaded to Hulu, I’m amazed to remember how much Scott Thompson looks like the Queen.
jk76

was this the only thing left when you looked in the gutter for scraps? get there sooner next time