Blair to travel to Dublin for book signing

FORMER BRITISH prime minister Tony Blair’s office has issued a strict set of instructions for customers attending his book signing at Eason in Dublin on Saturday.

Those who wish to have their copy of his autobiography A Journeysigned at the store in O'Connell Street will have to check in all bags, including purses and phones into a holding point.

There will be no customer photography and no personal dedication. Wristbands will be issued for the event and will have to be removed after signing.

There will be no guarantee that people who get wristbands will get their books signed as Mr Blair will be operating to a tight timetable.

Mr Blair’s autobiography will be released this morning and is one of the most anticipated political memoirs in publishing history along with being one of the most closely guarded.

No extracts of the book have been leaked to the media and no review copies released.

Mr Blair’s appearance at Eason is the first and one of only two scheduled book signings he is undertaking. The other is at Waterstone’s in London’s Piccadilly next Wednesday.

An Eason spokesman said the security details are on the instructions of Mr Blair’s office. He also said that protesters were entitled to protest outside the store, but not inside from where they would be removed.

Mr Blair is also scheduled to take part in The Late Late Showon Friday night.

That appearance will be the only scheduled live media interview that he will give.

His only other interview to date is with the BBC’s Andrew Marr which will be broadcast this evening.

Mr Blair will not be in the UK for the launch of his autobiography today.

Instead, he will be at the White House for a dinner linked to the Middle East peace talks.

His decision to effectively bypass his own country is being seen in the UK as evidence that Mr Blair hopes to get a better reception abroad than he would at home.

Mr Blair’s role in the peace process has been widely acknowledged in Ireland and he will be hopeful that in this country his legacy in that regard will outweigh his decision to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anti-war protesters say they will demonstrate outside Eason on Saturday and will announce protest details tomorrow.