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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder how people like Tony Blair get their arrogance and confidence that only they know best?

38 replies

user40788 · 01/05/2017 12:10

I've met a few people in life who are like this and Tony Blair is a famous example but where do these people get this ability to completely deflect criticism and have this sort of god given belief in themselves as absolutely right? They tend to have huge egos and incredible self belief/confidence, no self-doubt and I'm just wondering how this happens? Are people born with this or do their parents spend their childhoods telling them they are better than everybody else and that only their opinion matters?

OP posts:
MagicMarkers · 01/05/2017 12:24

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/celebrity/ghost-of-blair-ordered-to-piss-off-back-to-netherworld-20170427126742

I think it's Blair's Christianity and all his praying. I think religious people believe that God is telling them the "right" things to do. I'm an athiest so to me it all seems a bit crazy.

FurryLittleTwerp · 01/05/2017 12:37

Probably a narcissistic personality type.

FurryLittleTwerp · 01/05/2017 12:37

Or a psychopathic one.

CaoNiMartacus · 01/05/2017 12:39

Voilà.

to wonder how people like Tony Blair get their arrogance and confidence that only they know best?
user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 12:40

Yep, he has got a bad dose of Christian zeal and a massive ego. He annoys the hell out of me but those who followed him as Labour leader were pitiful, in comparison.

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 12:43

He has charisma too, whether you like him or not. Brown, Miliband and Corbyn have none whatsoever.

alltouchedout · 01/05/2017 12:43

It must be a character trait in those who seek power. Look at Theresa May, convinced her way is the only way wrt Brexit.

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 12:44

Re. the Tories, May has none but Cameron has masses. It is such an interesting quality.

akkakk · 01/05/2017 12:47

Nothing to do with religion...

However you can't go into a job where you have to be decisive and vacillate over decisions, can you imagine a PM who could never make any decisions - would be a very weak leader...

Doesn't mean that the person is arrogant / confident that only they are right - but they do know the value of having made a clear decision and sticking to it - the good ones will change if other evidence comes to light, the bad won't.

As to issues where there is more than one valid opinion then they are as entitled to their opinion as any-one else - they might be 'wrong' in someone else's eyes, but if they have been elected then their version is the 'right' version for that time...

LadyPW · 01/05/2017 12:48

I think he'd get on well with a lot of Mumsnetters....

Andrewofgg · 01/05/2017 12:48

At public school?

Andrewofgg · 01/05/2017 12:50

I'm trying to imagine a Constituency Labour Party adoring him as a candidate and I just don't see it happening.

Firstaidnovice · 01/05/2017 12:51

Well, I expect Blair got a lot of his confidence from winning three general elections, two of which he did with a pretty significant majority.

Thing is, even now he's politically astute, apart from a blind spot with failing to realise he is unpopular. He's had some pretty interesting things to say about how to bring down Trump for instance. He was/is very good at "politics". Whether or not you consider that to be a good thing is another matter.

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 12:53

I think it a LOT to do with religion. He thinks God is on his side and that he must convert as many as possible to the political faith.
HE is a political conquistador.

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 12:55

...has a LOT to do with...

FrancisCrawford · 01/05/2017 12:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

eddiemairswife · 01/05/2017 12:59

I just don't get the charisma thing. I never liked him as leader from the start.....too smily, too eager to please, superficial. I don't think he was truly Labour at heart, unlike Gordon Brown. He was just lucky to be leader at the right time when the country was ready for a change. Now it seems he has got tired of counting his money, and wants the limelight again.

Witchend · 01/05/2017 13:01

I doubt anyone gets to prime minister without a certain ability to make decisions as though they believe they are totally right, even if they don't actually.
Imagine Sergeant Wilson (Dad's army) as PM. Nothing would ever get done as they'd always be persuaded to change their mind. Let a chink appear with a doubt and all those on the other side would exploit it.
And no I don't like TB and never did, even when the country liked him. I think he was too into his own image and jumping on bandwagons and sucking up to be a good leader.

The most arrogantly knowing they are always right (even when obviously wrong) has nothing to do with upbringing. The rest of his comparatively normal family told him and still tell him he's wrong frequently. He just doesn't believe them. Grin

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 13:01

I think Thatcher HAD charisma. Think about the length of her...erm...reign!!

helpimitchy · 01/05/2017 13:02

He has a hotline to God doesn't he?

Religious people labour under a kind of delusion that their 'magic pocket magician' bestows superior functioning and power onto them. They believe that they're 'speshul people' and that God is on their side.

I have seen for myself how otherwise reasonable and pleasant people can be reduced to appalling arrogance by their beliefs. TB is already an appallingly arrogant person, so his belief system will multiply that exponentially and leave him believing that he himself is a magical pocket magician.

A bit like Emperor Caligula, only without all the blood Grin

DeadGood · 01/05/2017 13:03

I think going to public school helps

redexpat · 01/05/2017 13:05

He is a very good speaker. If I was that good I would think I was awesome.

MakeUpMyRoom · 01/05/2017 13:05

I remember reading (hearing?) that successfully being in charge isn't about knowing what to do, it's about sounding like you do.

Besides which, "people like Tony Blair" have any arrogance they have cemented and nurtured by proving themselves correct frequently and convincingly enough to become very powerful people.

The confidence is a great by-product of a good education too.

TizzyDongue · 01/05/2017 13:17

My bil is the same (though minus the war mongering).

He's a nice guy but has a baffling 'confidence' that even when everything shows he's wrong he'll maintain he's correct and the facts are wrong. (For example: doing a puzzle in a book, giving the answer, looking at the provided answer, seeing it's not his answer, saying answer in book is wrong.)

He's male, white, public school educated and not religious.

Like eddiemairswife, I their (blair, cameron etc: not my bil!!) actions also seem superficial to me too. Flattering duplicitously and fulsomely eager to please. It's merely a powerful man seemingly giving all his attention at one point in time to a person that causes this charismatic interpretation.

Andrewofgg · 01/05/2017 14:01

Charisma or not: In 1983 Thatcher's party garnered more votes than any party before or since; a high share of a high turnout. She had some help from Mr Galtieri and even more from Mr Foot - but she must have had something going for her. I fear a lot of people who voted Conservative that year managed to forget about it later!