Blair (and others) may have ignored some history, but all our prime ministers remember that, for all our size, our history is one of a very powerful nation. Whether that was a good thing or bad, it is true and we have not got completely away from it yet. (Nor, I suspect, do our governments want us to). That doesn't justify torture or other dubious practices, but it does explain why successive British governments still think we are part of the the great nations of the world. And anyway, in some ways, we are.
That is the most patriotic 'speech' I've ever made or am ever likely to make.