Of course, for many of those who viewed Blair with suspicion, if not active dislike, during his time in office this will come as little surprise. But it’s easy to forget that Blair did enunciate a hard foreign policy that attacked the realpolitik of the past. Even before 9/11, Blair was developing a truly coherent narrative on foreign policy. His Chicago speech of 1999 set the benchmark. He said: "We are all internationalists now, whether we like it or not. We cannot refuse to participate in global markets if we want to prosper… We cannot turn our backs on conflicts and the violation of human rights within other countries if we want still to be secure."