Tony Blair, aged 21 in 1975, wearing a straw boater hat. Photograph: SWNS
Tony Blair says he hates seeing this photograph. Normally the worst thing to do in this situation would be to draw attention to it. But that is exactly what the prime minister has done, telling the Oxford university student magazine Isis: "I am always rather wary about discussing my time at Oxford because it is invariably coupled with a photograph of me with long hair wearing a ridiculous boater - a picture that I wouldn't mind if I never saw again." Sometimes this blogging business is like taking candy from a baby.
Still, unless the Labour image operation has gone spectacularly downhill since Alastair Campbell's departure we should be wary of falling into easy traps. First the texting, then the goofy student photo. You have to admit it is starting to look suspicious, almost as if the prime minister is going on a post-Queen's speech charm offensive. "I must have thought I looked cool at the time but I have to admit that's not necessarily how it looks 30 years later," he told the magazine. Ah, the indiscretions of youth.
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