Circumstances

Tony Blair’s speech on terror was delivered a few days after the London bombings which took place on 7th of July, 2005. 

The speech was an explicit response to the London bombings which the speaker mentions twice: “What we witnessed in London last Thursday week was not an aberrant act.” (ll. 2-3); “They murdered over 50 innocent people (in London) last week.” (ll. 144-145).

The London bombings were planned suicide bomb attacks targeting the London public transportation system. The bombings killed 52 people and injured 700, being one of the deadliest terrorist incidents on British soil. They were carried out by four extremist Islamic terrorists. Two months later an Al-Qaeda branch claimed responsibility.

The attacks coincided with the G8 Summit in Scotland, where the heads of the eight most powerful global economies came together, including the President of the US, George W. Bush.

This aspect, together with the fact that the UK had joined the US in the War on Terror foll...