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The Dying Days of Tony Blair

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Tryphena Absent

18:11 / 16.06.07

It's easier to just call them mysociety.

18:19 / 16.06.07

Are you kidding? This is absolutely incredible- here we are seeing a government with 10 years under their belt, not going into meltdown when the leader changes, no coup, no power struggle, one leader exiting in his own time frame and being replaced with no actual heavy internal argument by someone who has been tagged as his successor for the entire 10 years. No energy? That's an incredible feat and it must have taken a shitload of thought, planning and control. At the same time a public contest has been constructed within the party, sometimes it feels like reading an Angela Brazil story "Labour pulls it off!"

Ok, fair enough. But - and this is solely a personal viewpoint - it would appear to me that a huge amount of energy has been expended to make it look like no energy has been expended at all, from where I stand.

I get the feeling that I'm overly media-biased, which is why I've developed this viewpoint. This, I will attempt to correct.

That, and, when it comes to changes in Government, Prime Ministers, Leadership etc that I feel conditioned to expect fireworks, meltdowns, strife... Maybe, in fact, this way is better.

Tryphena Absent

20:53 / 16.06.07

Well I'm really media-biased and I suppose that's why I find it so interesting. The government has been one step ahead of the press for 10 years and they continue to be so.

22:06 / 17.06.07

But up to a point, isn't one step ahead of the press all they are? Really, all they've ever been? Worse still, has the Blair administration ever seriously aspired (in terms of having sat down and thought about the consequences of its behaviour, for anything like enough time) to be much else? The special relationship with the States (Chapter Six in the Blair memoirs - "I Be A Man Of Conscience, And That, Blood") aside, that is.

An alternative title to Chapter Six might be "Faux-Churchillian Grandstanding About An Entirely Avoidable Situation That Nevertheless Cost Hundreds of Thousands Of People Lives Of Theirs That They May Not Be Getting Back Any Time Soon, Because God Said It Would All Be OK, In The End."

While I'd agree that it has been quite funny watching these characters fool about for the last ten years, it's still quite sobering to think that as UK tax-payers we've been paying for a lot of it, year after year, and that, consequently, the Blair government's bodycount is now entirely out of hand.

And I've wasted the time it took me to type this, I know.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

09:43 / 18.06.07

The otherwise hopeless Blairite-cheerleader John Rentoul suggested in the Independent on Sunday that while Blair may not much like the Indy he attacked it because he couldn't go after what he considers the truly worst newspaper, the Daily Mail and other Rothermere stable publications.

jentacular dreams

22:00 / 18.06.07

Guardian said something similar today, that the Mail was rumoured to have been the intended target, but that he 'lost his bottle at the last minute'. Or something like that. I'm a little skeptical though.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:13 / 24.06.07

Following on from here, I got a reply on Friday:

Thank you for your email of the 16th June, and I have seen the reference to which you refer, which does not seem to support the argument which you advance.

The Prime Minister’s point in relation to the Independent is, I think, a clear one: it is the mixing of news and opinions.

When one sees the front pages of the Independent, on many occasions it does seem to be expressing a view or opinion, rather than reporting news.

So far as I can see, that is not a criticism for which the Prime Minister should need to apologise, I think it is a fair comment on the Independent’s journalism.

I do not know if the Independent has protested against these particular comments, but I think it is, when one reads the Independent as I do along with other newspapers, a reasonable criticism.

Interesting that he claims to read newspapers, yet seems strangely ignorant of their contents.

Oh, and the petition I tried to start on the number 10 website asking Tony to apologise got turned down. Quelle shock.

22:46 / 24.06.07

Three days to go?

Disco is My Class War

00:37 / 25.06.07

Did anyone see the footage of Blair meeting with Ratzy over the weekend? Is Tony Blair really going to convert to Catholicism? Ratzinger's expression while he looked at Blair was so loving, and thus so incredibly creepy. "Come closer, little boy...."

01:06 / 25.06.07

I saw that footage and had almost the same thought. Eek. If he converts now, under this pope....uck.

Tryphena Absent

09:27 / 25.06.07

I have seen the reference to which you refer, which does not seem to support the argument which you advance.

Ya what?!

13:11 / 25.06.07

I saw that footage and had almost the same thought. Eek. If he converts now, under this pope....uck.

According to yesterday's Observer, they've had words over Irag though. So if Blair has to apologise to somebody to get what he wants, even if it's behind closed doors, and even it's only to the Pope, then I suppose that won't be an entirely bad thing.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:27 / 25.06.07

Huh, I was sure they'd turned this down, but never mind...

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Apologise to the Independent Newspaper, it's editor and staff, for his ill-judged comments.

05:33 / 27.06.07

So, are people doing anything to celibrate the departure of the the PM?

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:06 / 27.06.07

I'll wait until he's dead - although I can't help but expect that that event will only seem like an escape from justice.

Is anyone else absolutely despairing over the prospect of Blair becoming an envoy to the Middle East?

Speaking on his last full day as British prime minister, Mr Blair said: "I think that anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential.

"And I will do whatever I can to help such a resolution come about."

I'm sure he's just the right man to bring the issue to an "enduring resolution" that's in line with Israel and the USA's interests.

08:57 / 27.06.07

It is nice to see him go though. Bye Tony! Byeee!

Tryphena Absent

09:33 / 27.06.07

I'm finding it difficult to feel positive about this because I just don't feel like it's a change. When I was angry with him a year or so ago I think I would have done a little war dance but now I feel apathetic.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

13:33 / 27.06.07

Yeah, Brown has already agreed to go along with many of the policies Blair wanted that I disagree with (ID Cards being the most egregious) and welcomed a Tory MP to the Labour party who's main bane of contention with his old party seemed to be that they weren't being mean and right-wing enough, Brown has decided to further cut their ties to trade unions which, right or wrong, were who created their cocking party, and he's got a deputy leader who, it turns out, doesn't want to apologise for the Iraq war. So, what's to celebrate? Same shit, different arsehole, surely?

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

16:12 / 27.06.07

Quite. Every now and then I keep thinking that Tony isn't Prime Minister any more, and thinking I should be happy and excited, then I remember Gordon is and think I should be spiralling into a deep depression, and it all sorta evens out, and I just can#t care either way.

Then I remember Tony is now middle east peace envoy and everything else is swept away by twin waves of all consuming rage, and demented laughter.

Tryphena Absent

10:22 / 28.06.07

This is his atonement.

11:42 / 28.06.07

Miliband's been made foreign secretary, seems he's on track to become Tony in the future. woot.
I just realised today Harry Potter is coming to the end of ten years in power as well, but has been much more popular and successful.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

15:59 / 28.06.07

Ugh. I just found out that Gordon's put Hazel Blears in charge of the department that the bit of the civil service I work for reports to. This gives me my sad face.

20:01 / 28.06.07

Is anyone else absolutely despairing over the prospect of Blair becoming an envoy to the Middle East?

It occurs that this must surely count as the most tasteless practical joke in Western politics recent history, yes.

14:32 / 29.06.07

Me and the missus have been watching the Cabinet turnover the last three days and I don't envy you people one bit. A few impressions we got:

Tony left after wringing every last drop of voter goodwill towards New Labour and every last drop of non-friendly backbenchers in it. Tony's political machine delivered for Brown up to now, but I can see backbenchers worrying more about their seats than about Brown's grand plans. Brown's gonna have to work harder on discipline than Tony did.

In Tony's new job, there's always the possibility Tony goes to the middle east and ends up riding Hamas's (or Hezbollah's) rocket. He won't get the protection he had as head of state and nor would the UK feel pressed to start a war in his memory.

Brown's spinmeisters. Alastair Campbell was bad enough as PR goon, but the two (at least one's Scottish) advance men Brown has working for him both look like Damien in Omen II. Brown will have a tougher time with the news media.

That deal where Brown invited ministers and bureaucrats from other parties to help out on condition they join the Labour Party is a corker. Anyone who takes the offer will not only fall under the Labour whip, but they'll also have burnt their political bridges behind them and they'll put up with his shit longer than they would have if they still had political independence. I'd seriously doubt the credibility of anyone too stupid to see that.

Hard luck for having Hazel Blears as your boss. In the deputy PM debates, she seemed the worst possible choice. At least she didn't get the job, but that's cold comfort for her employees.

Tessa Jowell gets to eat the mess of the 2012 Olympic games. That she has a job at all, does that mean her husband is a bigger liability to the party than to her? Or do only the extremely disgraced politicos get kicked to the curb?

Best thing to hope for is next year Labour win a plurality but not a majority and have to share power with the Liberal Democrats. It could happen and maybe that's why Paddy Ashdown refused to take Brown's shilling, figuring if he wants to get involved 2008 he can do so on his own terms.

14:50 / 29.06.07

So, after the news about this morning's car bomb in Haymarket, what does anyone make of Blair's decision to set up his new headquarters just down the road in Connaught Square? At a time when the capital's security services are already quite stretched, and especially considering his planned future involvement in Middle Eastern politics, is it legitimate for Blair to create what's in effect a brand new terrorist target in the centre of London? All right, he has to live somewhere, but in terms of ease and cost of the appropriate supervision, wouldn't a place in the country be a bit more germane?

Basically, as someone who's always been keen to remind the rest of us that we can't take our freedoms foregranted anymore, shouldn't he be prepared to sacrifice some of his own? Or aternatively, as surely the number one terrorist target in Western Europe, should he be allowed to swan around town in a motorcade, using up limited resources at the taxpayer's expense?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

15:08 / 29.06.07

Yes, but by that logic you could argue that we should all blow our brains out so that the terrorists can't kill us...

15:31 / 29.06.07

Not really. All I'm suggesting is that Blair moves out of London to a more secure location in the country, where the armed, round-the-clock guards he's presumably going to need for the forseeable future can do their jobs more effectively. I know living outside Zone Two seems like a fate worse than death to some, but under the circumstances, I don't think it's too big an ask.

Put it this way, I imagine the residents of Connaught Square are somewhat less than delighted by their new neighbours, by which I mean not just the Blairs, but God knows how many police, Special Branch and MI5 officers.

19:51 / 01.07.07

Surely Tony Blair's supposed to be dead now? Can somebody please shoot zombie Blair in the head right now?

Observer, today (on a programme to be shown tomorrow):

Tony Blair has launched a powerful attack on 'absurd' British Islamists who have nurtured a false 'sense of grievance' that they are being oppressed by Britain and the United States... 'How are [we] oppressing them? You're oppressing them when you support the people who are trying to blow them up.'

The people who are trying to blow them up? Dear god, does the man have no sense of irony at all?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

05:00 / 02.07.07

Here you go Pingles.

09:01 / 02.07.07

Thank you.

(Hopefully soon he will, despite still being in a position to cause untold misery to many of the same people as before, at least be able to cause less misery and not appear so much on the newsradar.)

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