Blair Accused of Plagiarizing Fictional Account of His Own Life

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.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!