Blair's broadband wake-up call revealed

A senior aide to Tony Blair has claimed that the UK Prime Minister played an active part in forcing the roll out of broadband services across Britain - even though he admits the Labour leader had no clue as to what the in-demand technology was at the time.

According to Ed Richards, who has stepped down as Labour senior policy adviser on media and telecommunications in order to join Ofcom, Blair made sorting out the mess of 'Broadband Britain' one of his top priorities after the General Election of 2001.

"Tony Blair said 'First, I want you to tell me what this broadband thing is. Second, I want you to tell me why it's in crisis, and third, I want you to sort it out'," Richards told the audience at a broadband lecture organised by the Oxford Internet Institute last night.

In June 2001 the promised land of Broadband Britain seemed almost unobtainable - with the market in disarray. Take-up, especially of ADSL, was lamentable compared to other countries and everyone from Microsoft to the E-envoy was demanding action.

Although BT was facing most of the condemnation, the Labour Party had also been criticised for including just one sentence about broadband in its manifesto for the General Election.

With the Iraq conflict at the forefront of his mind, and his political reputation under increased scrutiny, issues such as broadband have doubtless slipped down Blair's list of priorities. However, according to Richards, the PM's interest was much more than a one-day wonder.

"He remains fascinated by it," Richards explained. "Not a quarter has gone by without him asking for an update from me."