From admiration to admonition within a decade, Guthrie’s disillusion reflected the public’s anger. Blair’s other-worldliness was noticed by senior Guardian journalists during a lunch in Downing Street. ‘I was right to have gone to war in Iraq,’ said Blair defiantly. ‘But what if you’re proved wrong?’ a journalist asked. ‘I am right,’ Blair replied, and looking upwards continued, ‘but someone else will be my judge.’

