Prime Minster Tony Blair has finally done the decent thing and resigned! Bloody good job too. He’s leaving number 10 Downing Street, the Prime Ministers official residence, on the 27th of June and probably moving in with Barney, President Bush’s other little lapdog, shortly thereafter.
Tony Blair has been Britain’s Prime Minister for 10 years though it feels like a lot longer. He said he is proud to have led the “greatest nation on earth” but that he feels that 10 years was “long enough” for him and the country.
President Bush said he “will miss” Mr Blair and praised him for his honesty, which he admitted was a trait that was hard to find in his circles.
In the UK however, the Mr Blair is leaving amid continued questions about his honesty and leadership. His popularity is in much the same state as the beleaguered President’s with his decision to follow America into war in the Middle East often cited as his biggest political mistake.
Recently Mr Blair has made the environment his parties top political priority, some might suggest because that is far more palatable to a British public that was dead set against the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. But criticism aside one cannot take away that Blair has managed to make some swift environmental changes putting the UK at the forefront of global efforts to address climate change.
It will be interesting to see how keen the new Prime Minister will be to be photographed with President Bush. Bush is extremely unpopular here in the UK and it would seem a politically unwise move to appear too friendly with a such a controversial and unpopular President given that the close ties between Mr Blair and Mr Bush did the Prime Minister little favor on home turf. There will of course be a meeting, but after that, I would be surprised at any further high visibility hand shakes and joint statements until America elect a new President in 2008.
Mr Blair’s replacement might be well advised to make some swift and radical changes and refocus the Labour party that it’s not unfair to suggest has been suffering from ‘Blaired vision’ for the last few years.
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10 Downing Street
Blair quits
A Blairfaced lie
President Bush’s lapdog
Wrote the following comment on May 13, 2007 at 2:25 am
The comments here sum up how apathetic we have all become over the empty suits that run our respective countries.
Wrote the following comment on May 13, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I think that is because politics is so complicated or it certainly seems that way to me. People are afraid of saying something dumb. Take the local elections recently. What are they all about? How can a local council be running the area as conservatives but the government who essentially make the rules (?) be Labour?
An example of politics being a little complicated and therefore commenting is rather difficult.
Also it is hard to comment on whether we agree or disagree with you about the success/failure of Tony Blair as you have done on my blog since it is possible that many of the readers of your blog, including myself were rather young the last time we had a different prime minister. Therefore they have nothing to compare to.
Unless you know your history (I teach geography!) then we wouldn’t know the true successes of Churchill as you mentioned.
Wrote the following comment on May 13, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I remember Thatcher. I was a kid at the time and had no interest in what she was saying or doing, but I remember the poll tax riots and how people were happy to see her go. The Conservatives floundered around after she went, and in 1997 Blair got in on a landslide. I remember that, the D:Ream track he used as his election theme (Things can only get better), I remember how hopeful many people were for this ‘New Labour’ and new face at No10.
In truth though, as I have said many times before, sweeping changes won’t really happen because we are comfortable now. Happy in some respects to politically argue over the little things, happy also to not bother voting or having any involvement at all because “nothing changes.”
My father once said that people don’t vote politicians in, they vote the other guy out, and that does rather seem to be the case. Politicians are now expected to be ‘whiter than white’ and the tiniest stain on their charachter is scrutinized and examined to such a degree that modern politiccs seems to have more to do about appearances than truth.
Is Britain worse off after Blair? No, not at all. We have a few scarey agendas still on the table but as awful as some of those are (for example the national ID card), we are still essentially free citizens of a country in which we enjoy great wealth, health and liberty when compared to many countries of the world.
Wrote the following comment on May 13, 2007 at 3:07 pm
“Politicians are now expected to be ‘whiter than white’”
I think this is only true of the media or if you let that be the case. Politicians are just regular people doing a job in the best way they can.
I get this dilema being a teacher. Pupils expect you to be “whiter than white” and when you see some year 11’s (16 years old) out in town they are horrified. I am the same, at work I do my job and then come home to your other life. Politicians are the same except because they are in the public eye they are treated differently.
When David Cameron was in the news for smoking Cannabis when he was a University everyone was saying “how can we let someone like that run the country in the future?” Well this doesn’t bother me, hasn’t everyone done things like that – it doesn’t make you a bad person or bad at your job. You don’t have to be whiter than white to run the country but surely you need to do what is best for the country. Tony Blair says he did that and actually I believe him. Yes going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do but at the time he had to make a decision and he did what he thought was right. Although I truely wish he hadn’t made that decision I do not blame him for it.
If people are only go to believe what they read rather than what politicians actually do (politics wise) then they will only see the bad in these people and yes, your father will still be right in that we will only ever vote the other guy out.
I got a bit carried away there didn’t I! :)
Wrote the following comment on May 13, 2007 at 11:33 pm
(note to editor) it’s the 27th June (not 17th)…. 27th is my birthday :o)
Wrote the following comment on May 14, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Thanks for the correction Clive. Fixed it now.
Okay Mark, the thing is that we are all guided in no small part from the media. When a revelation about a politician smoking cannabis in college comes out do we as a country really give a rats ass? Probably not. But then the media whip it up into a bigger story. The Daily Mail stirs its nest of middle England brain donors and within no time there’s a huge question over that persons ability, honesty, integrity, etc.
I think it stems from the fact that we are, as I said very wealthy and comfortable here. So much so that the big issues that would engage us aren’t there to engage us, so the media digs around looking for things to tell us in order that they can survive.
If our daily struggles were similar to those in less fortunate parts of the world, our fixation on personality and celebrity would be greatly diminished as we struggle to do battle with the bigger issues of life. Issues that we conquered long ago.
Wrote the following comment on May 14, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Exactly. So really it is only ourselves we have to blame then because we are the ones that skirt round the ‘big’ issues and ‘enjoy’ the insignificant ones?
However I agree I couldn’t give a rats ass whether or not he smoked weed at college and it wouldn’t influence my decision to vote for him or not. Maybe it would some and the fact that he would/wouldn’t go to war in Iraq some people wouldn’t think about. Funny/mad world really.
Wrote the following comment on May 14, 2007 at 6:10 pm
No no, you misunderstand me Mark. In this country there are no more ‘big issues’ in the same way as places less fortunate than us. ie, we are free, healthy and wealthy.
Are we ‘to blame’ for our bad media? Maybe, but I also think the media has a lot to answer for in constantly playing to the lowest commen denominator. You and I garner our knowledge and information largely from the media, so if they are constantly feeding us mainly showbiz gossip, scandel and sleaze then it should come as no surprise when these things become the very things that people are interested in.
Wrote the following comment on May 14, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Its a quite a thing going on in your country presently, but believe me, Blair still has a much better reputation than Bush in our country at least.
I don’t know much about him, but I have to admit, he’s a pleasure to listen to (at least better than world’s 99%). One will surely agree with this if he/she has ever heard Osama, Bush or the Chinese Wax Statues giving (or rather trying to give) speeches.
Wrote the following comment on May 14, 2007 at 8:37 pm
yeah, you can’t take away from the fact that Blair can deliver his words well. He, and his speech writers, have a great grip on the English language. For a great example of that check out my Blairfaced lie post.
Wrote the following comment on May 14, 2007 at 9:22 pm
You are right Animesh. I suppose we could have someone like Bush in charge and then we would be a whole lot worse off!