Saviours of rock..

Tony Blair: What Geldof & Bono have done over the years has saved millions of lives

- BY LYNNE KELLEHER

FORTY years on from Live Aid, Tony Blair believes Bob Geldof and Bono have saved millions of lives.

Over the years, the outspoken rock stars have often been labelled as 'western do-gooders' or as celebrities with white saviour complexes, but a new BBC series sets out their extraordinary behind-the-scenes influence over global leaders since the landmark concert on July 13th, 1985.

Former British prime minister Blair puts it very plainly.

"What Bob and Bono and others have done over the years has resulted in, I don't know, probably millions of people living who otherwise would have died. I don't think there's any type of remote ideological argument that should stand in the way of that."

The final episode of a three-part series gives a glimpse into the machinations of how the Dubliners wangled their way into the Oval Office, had a direct line to Downing Street and got invited to a G8 summit alongside Vladimir Putin.

CHAMPION

Blair fully credits Geldof with getting him to champion African debt relief, while George W Bush recounts how Bono persuaded him to pledge $15billion (€12.7m) to fight AIDS in Africa following a gift of an Irish bible and an exchange on sins of omission.

In the series, Live Aid at 40: When Rock N Roll Took On The World, Bush recalls his 2005 meeting with Bono and Geldof ahead of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

"I didn't have a clue who Geldof was. He and Bono came in, and Bono, was at least somewhat presentable, Geldof looked like he crawled out from underneath the ground", he says with a chuckle before adding. "But he was a good guy. He cared deeply.