By: MIKE JOHNSON
I BELIEVE that Tony Blair is the only British Prime Minister to not only announce his intention to resign two years in advance, but to fix the actual day of departure himself, and then embark on a grand farewell tour, rather in the manner of Queen Victoria saying good-bye to her British Empire.
It has been named the Legacy Tour, taking in scenes of what he regards as the triumphs of The Blair Years. Most of his time in office has been spent with one eye on the history books.
When Labour was elected in a landslide victory, and Tony Blair entered 10 Downing Street, on May 2 1997, there was a great mood of hope in the country. After 13 years of the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, both of which had eventually lost the trust of the people, we welcomed the fresh-faced Tony Blair.
He was brim full of ideas and enthusiasm, and promises of – not a return to socialism – but the launch of New Labour.
Self-assurance
Blair is a highly intelligent man and an intellectual, but with one failing – a surprising lack of self-assurance. He exuded an air of confidence and authority, but needed people around him who would assure him that he was doing the right thing.
To that end, he surrounded himself with a close circle of intimates, who created a world of ‘spin’, where no decision or announcement was made without ensuring the maximum impact. It soon became obvious that this new government was more concerned about surface presentation than policy.
So what did Tony Blair get right during his ten years in office? His main achievement, undoubtedly, has been to get a devolved parliament up and running in Northern Ireland, with unionists and republicans working together.
He was also successful, and gained much respect abroad, in his dealings with international issues. His leadership on such hotspots as Kosovo, Sierra Leone and, initially, Afghanistan and on issues such as climate change and global warming have brought deserved praise.
Iraq
On another front though, his support for the United States’ invasion of Iraq has become the albatross around his neck. Despite his insistence that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power justified the action, the vast majority of the British people do not agree.
The initial reason for his stance, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, was a conclusion reached as a result of doctored intelligence reports, and which led to the apparent suicide of weapons inspector, David Kelly.
At the time, there was speculation that Downing Street had been involved in this tragedy, although an inquiry, set up by the prime minister and not independent, concluded otherwise.
It is on domestic issues, though, that Blair’s premiership has been found wanting. It is true that we have seen performance improvements within education and the National Health Service, but these have been largely brought about by the manipulation of ‘targets’ – another Blair innovation.
In terms of actual improvements, the picture is not so rosy. The same goes for crime, where one set of statistics shows that overall crime figures are down, while another shows we are more likely to be mugged in the streets than ever before.
Blair boasts that more money than ever is being spent on these three fronts, but the public doesn’t see where it has gone. Admittedly, anti-terrorism measures have been given a high priority, but you are more likely to see a policeman standing guard outside a railway station with an assault-rifle, than you are to find one patrolling the streets. As in the case with many other policies, it’s all about image rather than substance.
While some may, one day, forgive Blair over Iraq, they are likely to be less charitable over the issue of immigration. This is the one topic that causes hackles to rise more than any other.
Immigrants
With the current enlargement of the EU, the influx of immigrants from the former eastern states, such as Poland, Bulgaria and Lithuania, has been far greater than originally estimated.
While many of the newcomers are making an important contribution to the economy, others have come to Britain because it is seen as the softest touch in the world to access public money and housing. Many have just disappeared into the ‘black’ employment market, causing resentment among the growing number of British unemployed.
There’s a saying that, “the whole world’s a stage” and, unfortunately, Tony Blair sees himself as the biggest actor on it. He has not once failed to react to an emotional situation, whether it be the death of Princess Diana or England’s cricketers winning The Ashes, by making a theatrical appearance.
As a result, it’s very difficult to see which model of the prime minister is on show – the hard-headed pragmatist or the clown playing to the gallery.
The jury is still out on what could be his greatest legacy. Maybe being the first British Prime Minister to appear in a criminal court, answering questions about the possible ‘selling’ of political honours.
For a government, which was elected on a promise of being ‘whiter than white’, after the Conservative years of sleaze, it is probably this reason that damns Tony Blair in the eyes of the public, more than any other.
In a farewell speech to his local constituents, he ended with the words, “I give my thanks to you, the British people, for the times I have succeeded, and my apologies for the times I’ve fallen short. Good luck.” He might have added, “You’ll need it”.
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