Tony Blair: all articles

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Charles Clarke may not have won much overt support for his attack on Gordon Brown this week, but his thesis that the future of the Labour Party cannot be understood in terms of Blairite and Brownite cliques seems to have won more general assent.

At Comment is Free, the Fabian Society's Sunder Katwala has pointed out that many of Clarke's own policy prescriptions don't fit the Blair/Brown New Labour template. In another piece on the Fabians' new Next Left blog (also at Liberal Conspiracy), Katwala suggests the same is true of many younger members of the Cabinet:

the generation of 40 and 30-somethings in the Labour Party have no interest at all in carrying the personal allegiances of 1997 around for the next twenty years. Which is lucky – as I doubt Ed Miliband wants to lead a rival army to take on his brother.

If there is one thing a ‘Next Left’ is about, it has to be about coming up with new answers, not thinking the work was done a generation ago.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Jon Bright, now enjoying a New Labour Free stay in Madrid, wrote a hilarious post about the many roles of Tony Blair, for whom the illusion of grandeur is a mere ante-chamber to his ambition. Jon called it He'll Save Every One of Us. It followed my own predictable reaction to the announcement that Blair was going to teach faith and globalisation at Yale. Now we have a quick summary of his university course by Michael Elliot in Time Magazine as Blair launches his Faith Foundation in New York having just belted back from Bethlehem, doubtless via the grand country house he has just acquired outside London.

It is so easy to mock. It is so hard to take seriously. Poor Michael Elliot does his best while nervously looking over his shoulder to make sure that he doesn't lose standing with his fellow Brits. Don't worry Michael! There are some serious issues here. And Elliot is right to attack the casual cynicism that so often passes for common sense and even intelligence in the UK when it is really an expression of the mental subservience that has kept British rulers safe from democracy. So, let's think about what Blair is saying. Elliot reports: "For Blair, the goal is to rescue faith from the twin challenges of irrelevance—the idea that religion is no more than an interesting aspect of history—and extremism. Blair and those working with him think religion is key to the global agenda. "Faith is part of our future," Blair says, "and faith and the values it brings with it are an essential part of making globalization
work"."

It looks banal, but it isn't, it is a con-trick. One similar to 'The Third Way' that Blair propagated when he became premier. Behind both clichés there is an insidious presumption: in "the third way" it was the word "the" - the idea that there was only one way (and Blair was its prophet). Here the same manoeuvre is cast on a larger canvass. It assumes there is only one model of 'globalisation'; only a single way that it can "work" (and only one Blair to interpret this for us). If, however, there is more than one way for globalisation to 'work' as there clearly is, then there needs to be an argument about the best way and judgements have to be taken. Blair implies by slight of hand that, really, there is only a single good form of globalisation - otherwise all is lost. But how do we know what this is, except by following the one who knows? And how can we know whether to trust him? Through the depth of his sincerity.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I have avoided reading the Cherie Blair selections. But I have just read Mary Riddell in the Telegraph wrestling with the implications of the "bad example" Cherie has set. The stench of double standards was one of the things that made me avert my eyes. 

Debbie Moss on From Anger to Apathy: The British Experience since 1975 by Mark Garnett.

Garnett's history of the rise in disengagement and voter apathy suffers from its lack of convincing explanations and an overly narrow understanding of politics.

Simon Barrow (London, Ekklesia): Amid dramatic scenes at the normally placid Westminster Cathedral, Tony Blair has declared his own "sense of mission" for making the world a better place and has said that religion, starting with his own newly minted Catholicism, can be instrument for achieving peace, world development and general niceness.

Jon Bright (London, OK): Was toying with an Anthony the Great metaphor ("And when Tony looked at the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more high profile international jobs to apply for") but have gone with Flash Blair instead ("I love you Tony - but we've only got 14 hours left to save the Earth!") for the latest installment in TB's post-PM attempts to achieve omnipresence.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Yale, which until now I had believed to be a university dedicated to standards in scholarship has just appointed Tony Blair to teach its students about Faith and Globalisation! Here is the announcement.

Yale President Richard C. Levin says “The appointment of Mr. Blair provides a tremendous opportunity for our students... it is essential that we explore how religious values can be channeled toward reconciliation rather than polarization. Mr. Blair has demonstrated outstanding leadership in these areas and is especially qualified to bring his perspective to bear. We are honored that he is planning to join the Yale community.” If there was a God Mr Levin would have been struck down for his disrespect for the innocent dead of Iraq. Unless, of course, he was exercising deep irony in a desperate search for even more funds.

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): Chances are you won't have heard anything about this in the mainstream media but Scotland Yard have apparently launched an investigation into allegations that Tony Blair, Lord Goldsmith and others committed war crimes in their role in the occupation and invasion of Iraq. On January 15 2008, John McDonnell MP, along with Chris Coverdale, the International War Law Expert, and Annie Machon, of the Campaign to Make War History, briefed MPs and the media on the investigation and the crimes Blair and others are alleged to have committed (see the footage below). Apparently they tried over 150 times since February 2003 to get the police to take up the investigation until, eventually, the War Crimes division of the Counter Terrorism branch at Scotland Yard called them to give evidence. Whether or not this leads to a full blown investigation, the video of the press conference certainly makes for dramatic viewing. Coverdale delivers the list of allegations in sombre lawyerly tones and certainly doesn't sound like your average leftie activist. At one point he warns that "Every adult in Britain who has paid tax since the war started, committed the crime of ‘conduct ancillary to genocide, conduct ancillary to crimes against humanity, and conduct ancillary to war crimes'...as well as crimes against peace." Ignorance of the law, he says, is "no excuse", although (luckily) the courts may be lenient if citizens, once aware of the crimes, do what they can to bring them to a halt. Although Coverdale says they have a "great chance" of success and the legal case (to my untrained eyes) seems strong, the best that can probably be hoped for from the point of view of anti-war campaigners, in the face of "senior opposition" in the Met, is that this re-ignites the debate over the legality of the war and the need for proper accountability.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Today's Independent reports that Tony Blair is warming to the idea of becoming President of Europe even though he would have to give up a "clutch of lucrative business appointments". With a classic Blair spin he has let it be known that he "does not want to be seen to be angling for the job or as the front-runner, which might enable opponents to rally against him". This means he is desperate to get out of the Middle-East. However, "friends" believe he would only "accept a heavy-hitting role as a "Mr Europe" figure".

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): The Mail reports that at the World Economic Forum, in Switzerland, Tony Blair said he was ready to interrupt his nascent business career to return to the political frontline. Blair already has the support of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is his "unofficial campaign manager." Elsewhere, the collapse of Romano Prodi in Italy has meant another Blair ally - Silvio Berlusconi - stands a good chance of returning to power in his country. The article notes however that the support of Berlin remains critical. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is said to support him privately, but faces opposition from left-leaning coalition partners, wary of Blair's role in the Iraq war.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I've been asked, "Why was Watt not spotted as a liability?"

Answer, because they saw him as an asset, an opportunity, a possible fall guy indeed. Did you see the picture of Blair patting him on the head?

Mendelsohn seems sophisticated from all accounts. He was told in September of the illegal payments. The party is broke, election is looming, he tells one of Brown's boys (which one?) of some 'close to wind stuff' etc, ie he covers his arse. Or there is something else which secures the same. Not so much illegal as wrong (see my first post on this.) Hence he can't be fired now. Also he loathed Abrahams and enjoyed the idea of taking his money. They agree it was on Watt's spot. (But Watt not such an idiot he didn't tell Mendelsohn, to try and give himself cover).

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Part II of the David Aaronovitch BBC whitewash on the Blair Years was on the war leader. At least it included Joska Fischer saying that Iraq was a huge strategic mistake for which we will all pay including those who had the wisdom to oppose it.

And once again however unpleasant its stench, the glare of the whitewash was so great it became revealing. But before biting back, because it is important not to let them re-write historfy in this way without protest, it seems to me that Iraq is not going to go away from British politics, even as the UK’s troops are pulled out completely.<!--more-->

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): My immediate reaction on watching the Blair Years on BBC1, scripted and presented by David Aaronovitch, was to feel slightly soiled, contaminated even, as if the mere act of my watching was a form of collaboration with the odious atmosphere of bad faith and dishonesty. The programme started and ended with clear falsehoods. The first, that the decision to make the Bank of England independent was in any way instigated by and belonged to Blair. The last, that Lebanon was just a minor background to a small rebellion of second-raters. Did I hear Aaronovitch say "he got into trouble over the Lebanon", as if in passing? In fact Blair's support for Israel's appalling invasion and then his slavish refusal to separate himself from Bush in any way and call for a cease-fire was a breaking point that ran through New Labour supporters as well as traditionalists. Thanks to Gordon's unhealthy desire for absolute unity, Blair got a generous farewell ticket which included no public recognition of the differences, no "throwing the saucepans" as Mandelson put it. More is the pity.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): In one of those interesting columns that make you snort with contempt, not at the author but at our rulers, Richard Norton-Taylor in today’s Guardian documents what he says were the attempts by British intelligence to advise Washington against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He adds that General Tony Zinni the former head of US central command called it “the wrong war, fought in the wrong place, at the wrong time”.

Jon Bright (London, OK): Overshadowed by the headlines of his announcement about a unified border police and extending detention, Gordon Brown has approved the decision to build two vast aircraft carriers, which according to Richard Norton Taylor in the Guardian have already been given their respective names, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. If delivered on time they will sail out to sea battle-ready and full of Blairite hard power in 2014 and 2016. How will the Kingdom be safe for  seven years without one?

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I've been challenged, what is all this about the 'relief' of having Brown? Just imagine the chagrin of Tony Blair as he looks at the images of our Kingdom under water and thinks what he would have done. Why, he’d have stripped to his costume and donned a life-vest to join the relief effort; he'd have declared on behalf of us all his empathy with those who had lost everything (and could not go to Cliff Richards' home in the West Indies to dry off); he’d have declared that this was the people’s flood, showing – his upper lip quivering – how strong and understated was traditional British bravery; he’d have had that ‘water baby’ in his arms; he’d have declared, selflessly and for our sakes, that, as the country needed him, he could not possibly resign until the waters subsided.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): "Scotland, as ever, was a disaster waiting to happen." This is the opening of Alastair Campbell's alleged diary entry for Friday 4 April 1997, when Labour was still in opposition. It refers to the interview Blair gave the Scotsman when he compared the proposed Scottish Parliament to a parish council, which was presented by the media as betraying an anti-devolution prejudice. Campbell writes,

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Hizb ut-Tahrir are holding a conference on 4th August 2007 at Alexandra Palace, London. They claim, "in the current climate of fear and suspicion", that "the most fundamental of problems is the deteriorating instability and injustice in the Muslim world. Coupled with this is a misunderstanding of Islam, in particular its political ideas, which are so often misrepresented". So they want a dialogue to,

OurKingdom: Breaking News! We have learnt from a well placed source that after a massive international Interpol investigation the authorities have concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to charge Tony Blair with having ordered the invasion of Iraq. Asked how British troops could therefore today be in Iraq, a police official close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that, despite the fact that people who have no right to be in the UK's upper chamber are sitting today in the Lords after lending the Labour Party large sums of money, there is not enough evidence to conclude there is an official relationship between cause and effect. The key problem for both investigations, he continued, is that what is obvious is not considered to be evidence in British law. We understand that it is now likely that an ongoing investigation into the corruption of British public life will conclude that there is now not even sufficient evidence that Tony Blair was actually Prime Minister in the sense of being responsible for anything that happened between 1997 and this year. According to ePolitix "The sticking point has been the admissibility of evidence obtained by the police. The bar has been raised incredibly high because of the sensitivities." Nick Robinson of the BBC claims to have spoken recently to the alleged former Prime Minister who apparently nonetheless feels that the sensitivities were insufficient to shield him from a "witchhunt". It seems the alleged former Prime Minister is confident that a properly conducted investigation under a judge of his choice will conclude that there are indeed witches at work.