June 27, 2007 10:39

U2’s Bono salutes Tony Blair before his final hours in office

Bono: ‘Tony Blair plays guitar. Singers need guitar players.’

Today (June 27) marks the final day, and this morning, the final hours of Tony Blair’s time in office as the UK’s Prime Minister.

Recalling Blair’s lengthy and often controversial time in office, U2 frontman Bono likened the Prime Minister’s strengths in politics, to his early university days spent playing guitar in his band Ugly Rumours.

“They’re often very clever,” Bono explained in The Sun, “very studious – they spend hours in the bedroom practising – you know, swottish.”

Sharing his personal admiration for Blair, the U2 singer added, “What I admire the most about Tony Blair is that despite all accusations of a slick PR machine, spin doctoring and the like, he has almost all of the time exposed himself to bad press and outcry for doing the things he believed in.”

Meanwhile, fellow band member and now editor of The Word magazine Mark Ellen described colourfully, how the politician used to storm on stage like Mick Jagger himself.

Describing their gigging days to The Sun, he wrote “Our second gig was at St John’s and Tony, who was a massive admirer of Mick Jagger, was waiting in the wings. He was wearing a hoop-necked, trumpet-sleeved T-shirt, loons and high heels, with lots of bare flesh on show.”

“He came screaming on with the classic “Let’s rock!” and went into the first Stones number as if he were Jagger himself, all pointing fingers and pout.”