AP Tony Blair

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Los Angeles Tuesday evening to speak at a Malaria No More fundraiser as part of Brit Week, an annual celebration of UK-LA business relations.

I had a brief chance to ask him a few questions backstage about the world financial crisis.

"This is the toughest, not just political, almost intellectual challenge if you like, that I think political leaders have had to grapple with in a long time," Blair told me. As his own government today unveiled tax increases to help close a growing budget gap due to government bailout packages, Blair said he believes "Governments are prepared to do whatever it takes to get the financial sector fixed and get the economy back under way again." He specifically said that the Obama administration has "the right attitude" by being active and determined to solve the crisis. "I mean, this isn't going to be resolved by people stepping back, but buy stepping up, certainly."

However, there is one issue that concerns him: trade.

"For us, I think, in terms of the US-UK relationship," Blair said, "the single most important thing is we keep our markets open, and we realize that it is more trade between us, not less, that is going to be part of the answer to the challenge that we face." When I asked him about the "Buy America" provision in the US stimulus plan, he replied, "I get concerned about anything that restricts the openness of trade, particularly between nations like the US and the UK...there's a million jobs in either country that rests on the investment from the other."

Here are Tony Blair's comments, including his answer to my question about nationalizing banks.

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