“I believe Tony Blair is an out-an-out rascal, terminally untrustworthy and close to being unhinged.” Matthew Paris obviously has his own agenda to push- he has come out, amongst other things, strongly in favour of David Cameron, but how fair an assessment is this? What are we to make of our Tony now? Is there really “something wrong in his head”?
In a sense this is a question of trust. You may not agree with the methods but you trust the motives of the man. But at what point does that break down, the illusion end and the emperor stand revealed?
The British system of government is based on trust. That is why we have never had a written constitution, a system of checks and balances, and instead have a Prime Minister with more personal prerogatives than the Secretary of the Communist Party, because we trust to their restraint, their decency. Our laws are reactive. They only exist to correct some problem, some shattering of the illusion of self governance. Hence campaign financing rules follow scandal.
The Iraq war has led many, including the Chancellor and Cameron, to call for Parliament to wrest the sole legal right to declare war from the PM. The implication is that, despite the vote taken, you just knew there was a strong chance Tony would have gone anyway. It was, after all, what God told him to do.
Suddenly unhinged doesn’t seem so far off the mark. I’m not against someone of a religious persuasion taking office, but Tony may as well have been asking the pot plant on his desk for advice for all the difference it makes. Faith must distort if fact runs contrary to it. Either that or you compromise your faith. To press on regardless, because ‘it’s the right thing to do’, is a kind of totalitarian, wild eyed zealousness, which our grinning Tony espouses so distastefully.
“Deconstructing Mr Blair’s mind is hopeless,” say Paris. But here is a man surely called by destiny. Unquestionably the leading politician of his generation, not that that says much, he took over a party he had little in common with, convinced it he was the ticket to power, moved them to the centre ground and won three consecutive elections. Sure. But what has he actually done? He, well Gordon, has poured money into the NHS, only for productivity barely to move, and to leave hospitals facing mounting debts and laying off staff.
After initial improvements educational standards have been static if not falling for the past few years. Education, education, education? After its 50 % target packed kids into University, the government, unprepared to pay for it, levied high tuition fees which (irrationally) puts off the poorest from going.
Steady growth and low unemployment followed two brave decisions (taken by the Chancellor) in 1997: to free the Bank of England and to follow Tory spending plans. Since then the economy has absorbed the fundamentally contractionary policies of the government- increased bureaucracy and tax rises.
Transport? We’ll skip that one shall we? No point kicking a man when he’s down.
Well…the environment. The government set a target of 20 % CO2 reduction by 2010, but are unlikely to meet their 12.5 % Kyoto commitment. Why? Because no one is prepared to cap emissions radically enough for fear of political reprisals, despite the fact the increased cost can be offset by reducing other taxes. In fact this is what the government did with its Climate Change Levy. So the idea’s there, but not the will.
And that says a lot about this government. Even when they hit on the right idea they don’t have the bottle. But why? Two thumping majorities and they played safe. And now you’ve blown your capital. As Paris says, “the worst of it is the waste. The waste of brains, of talent, idealism and nervous energy.”
What happened to our referendum on PR that would have seen the Tories consigned to the history books? Tony liked his majority; he thought it would never end.
And of course, Iraq. At the time I disagreed. I marched. Well, I was there anyway. But I always thought he either knew something I didn’t, or that at least we were going to do it properly, a little bit of thought perhaps. I’ve never believed it was some war over oil, or to revenge Bush’s dad, or whatever the ignorant America-bashers think- it’s funny how the left in their critique of the right always end up mimicking them. But what have we achieved? A country perhaps on the brink of civil war, allied soldiers guilty of torture and abuse of prisoners, a country as reconstructed as Lord Tebbitt. A shocking embarrassment, compounded by Gallic sneers of I told you so.
And what happened to 24 hour drinking? For fear of the Daily Mail they passed a law giving too much power to the Councils, such that they refused applications to extend opening by even an hour. How the hell we won the Olympics I don’t know. Oh yeah, a Frenchman voted the wrong way.
Cash for peerages. Secret loans that not even the party treasurer knew about. Sleaze, or at least the whiff of it. Enough to tip the balance, to turn the maid into the hag. “Would he still get the benefit of our doubt over the Bernie Ecclestone affair?” asks Paris. Don’t bet on it.
“What kind of a man makes Silvio Berlusconi his friend?” Celebrity Tony of course, he who likes the high life, the millionaire mansions. Remember Cool Britannia? What kind of man, who, after wanting to become a rock star, enters politics? Someone who believes in themselves, and wants that person to be seen. “He is an actor whose first invention- himself- has been his only interesting role.”
Is this it then Tony? Are you a self-loving charlatan with a religious bent, or just incompetent? Or did things just get a bit too much? Circumstances conspired against you. I think you blinked. You never followed your radical rhetoric at home, and abroad, led by George, you did, for all the good it’s done.
So, the legacy? A watered down education bill to reform a failing education system, ID cards that can only possibly have the dubious benefits claimed if they’re compulsory which they’re not, an indebted NHS, increased military commitments with no exit strategy, impasse in Europe over further reform, a reduced majority, a rebellious party and in his image an opponent capable of defeating Labour at the next election.
Perhaps it’s just tiredness, or boredom, or spent hope, maybe a sense of betrayal, but perhaps Anthony, you should have just stuck with the guitar.