Tony Blair Answers Your Questions

Tony Blair, former prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, will give this year's keynote address on Thursday, Nov. 11. In keeping with the show's theme, "All About You," Blair will base his speech on answers to questions submitted by attendees. Selected submissions were awarded special reserved seating as well as a photo opportunity with the former prime minister.

Blair served as prime minister for nearly a decade — from May 1997 to June 2007. He was also the leader of Britain's Labour Party (1994 to 2007) and the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, England (1983 to 2007).

During his 10 years as prime minister, Blair transformed Britain's public services through a program of investment and reform in schools and hospitals, resulting in more children achieving better school results and more people receiving faster access to health care, with improved survival rates for cancer and coronary heart disease.

Blair has always been a strong advocate of a values-based, activist, and multilateralist foreign policy — an agenda that combined tackling terrorism and intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, with action on issues like climate change, global poverty, Africa and the Middle East peace process. He is also widely credited for his contribution toward assisting the Northern Ireland peace process by helping jointly to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement and deliver a power-sharing government.

Since leaving Downing Street, Tony Blair has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East. He represents the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union, working with the Palestinians to prepare for statehood as part of the international community's effort to secure peace.

The keynote speech will begin at 8:30 a.m.