political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Your Contribution to Blair's Legacy
Today's papers are full of ten years of Blair, the Blair legacy and much more along that theme. One of the blog's regular contributors, Auntie Flo, has had a good idea. She has suggested that I should offer my blog readers the opportunity to say goodbye to Tony Blair by writing about what they think of his legacy. So if you would like to take part, write your contribution in 100 words or fewer. There will be a prize of a box set of Margaret Thatcher Speeches CDs for the one I judge the best. No need to over-use swear words...
Headline in every Scottish Sunday is ALbour about to get a big kicking and SNP with 8 point lead ... probably bigger
ReplyDeleteAmazingly 3 papers have declared for SNP and another one sort of.. Alex Salmond quipped on Radio Scotland this morning he has been waiting for a newspaper to give the SNP backing for 16 years then one morning, just like buses, three come along at once ;-)
Here's my tribute, Iain:
ReplyDeleteThere once was a PM called Blair
Who realised that life wasn't fair
Though three times elected
They only rec'llected
His war in Iraq and Cher's hair.
'Tony Blair' at The Difference
He came, he took, he went.
ReplyDeleteNo need to do anything other than quote WH Auden's words about a "dirty, dishonest decade". The death of David Kelly revealed the true character of our PM - that he could survive that episode and remain in office shames our country.
ReplyDeleteA legacy of deceit and empty promises, written in the blood of Iraq.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony for taking our once highly regarded standing in the world, British politics and
ReplyDeleteour voting system and bringing them into disrepute. God knows it must have taken a lot of effort and planning to achieve such an accolade in 10 years, we can't find half the criminals running lose in the country but you stayed in the day the police came to interview a sitting prime minister at No10!
How about a prayer ?
ReplyDeleteLord, forgive me:
Where there was love, I have sewn hatred;
where there was pardon, injury;
where there was faith, doubt;
where there was hope, despair;
where there was light, darkness;
and where there was joy, sadness.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou were all wrong. I was the only one in step.
ReplyDeleteRight about radical Islam; wrong about everything else.
ReplyDeleteOh, and that means 'right about Iraq,' by the way.
ReplyDeleteMay 2nd 1997, 17 years old.
ReplyDeleteFeeling thoroughly betrayed by the British nation I could see this was a dangerous man with no substance, only style.
Apparently, his biggest 'legacy' according to the party line is the economy.
Thanks for what Tony? The fact I'll have to work until i'm 68? The fact that I and most people my age couldn't contemplate owning a home?
At least he made a just and honourable decision about Iraq.
Err.
I'm pleased you're a Christian Blair because you already know what your destiny is.
May you burn for all eternity.
Right here we go.........take a deep breath.
ReplyDeleteBlair is now desperately trying to set his legacy and then leave office.
It is too late. His legacy is:
1) The Iraq war
2) The mendacity leading to the Iraq war
3) The Honors/loans scandal and the deception
4) Appointing Brown as Chancellor, who has raised taxes over 80 times (so far) and destroyed the best occupational pension scheme in the world
5) The destruction of civil liberties and the relentless creation of the apparatus of a police state
6) ID cards (he won’t be in power when they are introduced, but they will be a disaster in every aspect of their implementation)
7) Made 10 Downing Streets costs three times what they were in 1997.
Made one of the ugliest women in the world our foreign minister....and then does the job himself.
Other than that he has failed to deliver anything and waffled endlessly for ten years, dozens of empty promises, billions and billions wasted.
Failed on every initiative. Allowed uncontrolled, mass immigration in to an overcrowded island with a desperate housing shortage.
Surrendered the EU rebate. Ignored parliament and the procedures.
Allowed Prescott to carry on (because Prescott has something on him)
Sold the UK down the river
Without doubt, the worst Prime Minister in living memory.
In Memoriam by e j thrib
ReplyDeleteSo farewell then,
Tony Blair
"A pretty straight kind of guy"
That was your catchphrase
For some reason.
destroyed the pensions of a generation
ReplyDeletecaused a civil war and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people
Wrecked what was left of our education system
fucked up the NHS
Tagged us all like cattle
The man has achieved so much the list is pretty much endless
Hmm, the prize is so tempting. But not that tempting.
ReplyDeleteBlair: "I did it my way."
ReplyDeleteI ran every single department - including the military, which I slid out from under the MoD into Downing St. I made every single decision concerning anything.
I appointed incompetent morons to the cabinet so their low level of intelligence would pose no threat to me.
I wrecked a cohesive, courteous civil society. I picked apart the fabric of Britain's ancient laws, developed over centuries. I wrecked the second chamber because I couldn't control it as, as you know, I control everything.
I even control what people think, which is why I have the huge army of thought police.
I have tried to wreck the structure and integrity of the family and to a large extent have succeeded, although some people have proved surprisingly robust in their defence of the family and they may need to go to re-education camp.
I flooded Britain with primitive immigrants with the view to wrecking a cohesive nation. What is more, I accorded the immigrants special privileges over the indigenes. People who expressed resentment of this were branded by me "Racist!!!!!!!!!!) and I threatened to have them arrested.
My fat fishwife wive and I adopted a piece of civil liberties vandalism called the Human Rights Act as a further rod to beat the formerly confident British with. Also, cherie has made out like a bandit from it. We could never have afforded all our properties without revenues from the HRA!
I lie about everything as a matter of course, and of course, I lied about the cost of the Olympics. This is because I wanted some more triumphant photo ops of ME, and because I want to be on the platform, with my own key lighting, at the opening performance - which will, incidentally, be all about me.
I'm a poseur and I love wearing costumes. Through my chancellor (well, I can't do everything myself!) I have wrecked a robust economy. But I have ensured that third worlders with absolutely no skills, and who mean us harm, can go straight from the plane to free housing and free medical and a nice weekly allowance.
What's not to love?
Liberating Iraq from Sadam was the only principled act Bliar has ever taken - unfortunately the real justification has been lost in the Bliar prewar, and BBC post war,lies.
ReplyDeleteBliar's true legacy, will not become clear until Pre$$a spills the beans in his autobiography.
ugh, just read through my previous attempt. More haste, less speed ... here's a version that actually flows:
ReplyDeleteThere once was a leader named Blair
Who aimed to spruce up our welfare
To office he came
Amid much acclaim
And promised to make Britain fair.
He came with a hermit named Brown
Who followed with briefcase and frown
Though galled by defeat
He lingered discreet
When bringing down all of Blair’s plans.
One day Mr.Brown finally roared
And into Blair’s back came the sword
Blair knew he was done
But still had some fun
By making sure Brown was deplored.
BTW - When I eventually die, in the three short days before I come back, I am pencilling in a meeting with Jesus Christ to discuss how things could be run better down here if just one person were in charge. This will eliminate miscommunications and crossed wires,and do away with the need to make up fake inter-office memoranda and pretend minutes!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I never sold peerages PER SE, so shut up!
Verity:
ReplyDeleteSo, you don't like Tone very much then?
Private Eye cover had it best : Bliar with magnifying glass exclaiming " Oh there's my legacy". However, I fear it's yet another of his lies. It's invisible. A legacy is supposed to be a plus. There isn't one - except he will go and we will get an even worse Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteHe did win three elections for Labour and for that achievement, whatever the consequences, he deserves to be remembered. His own time in office achieved no valuefor-money improvements in the NHS, transport, education (especially) and combatting crime. His term will be marred forever by the deception surrounding the decision to go into Iraq with Bush
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing 10 years of lefties and Blair I will never be voting Labour at any point in the future. Blair is one of the weakest and stupidest rulers this country has had in its entire history, party politics has reached a new low and the little democracy we had has been massively undermined.
ReplyDeleteThese people should be facing manslaughter charges from several directions not least over the service personnel dutifuly risking and losing their lives with antique equipment from the 1970s.
So many problems could have been addressed but have not even been recognised by these vacuous narcissist morons, they don't even set out to govern a real country just a fictional nonsense invented by pr drones.
No swearing as requested.
3 elections - the voting system in this country is so pathological it's hardly an attributable achievement, they have had the extremely powerful and very partial (not far from being a Labour organisation in terms of staff affiliations and output) BBC working for them, even with the odds stacked like that in their favour only the second election was a respectable win.
tom p - No, his name will be held in contempt forever for taking us into the vile HRA which has done more to undermine English Common Law and confidence in British civil society than would have been done had we been occupied by Germany.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't understand all this talk he is mooting around about a "legacy". He hasn't got one. He is dying on the vine,intestate.
Anonymous 5:32 - Yes, even after stuffing ballot boxes with "postal votes", they still couldn't manage a decent victory.
Colin d: respec', man.
ReplyDeleteThe Tories got rid of Thatcher and have spent years in the political wildreness.I wonder what will become of New Labour when Blair goes?(After a brief irrelevant interlude of course).
ReplyDeleteThere was a PM called T Blair
ReplyDeleteWhen he got in we were premiere
We're now second class
And if we don't kick ass
We'll be in the abyss of despair
http://www.b3tards.com/u/ce327a11a55170bc7909/bstards.jpg
ReplyDeleteGordon Brown will be blair's legacy. The reason being he has never had the guts to stand up to the man. if we thought Blair was bad his lecacy is going to be worse. God help us all.
ReplyDeleteThere once was a young man called Blair
ReplyDeleteWhose blunders gave him such grey hair
He sent us to war
With no honourable cause
And left this country in despair.
And that is not half the story
For ten years he caused misery
He fucked up our schools
He broke all the rules
Goodbye and god bless to Tony
He has dismantled the Union,
ReplyDeletethe armed forces,
the education system,
the health service,
the police force,
the family,
rural life,
transport.
Supposedly intelligent
he has obviously never studied history,
logic,
warfare.
He sends dozens of our finest young people to their deaths
but his own stay safely at home.
A chapter in our history that it will take decades to put right
>Ian: Blair's legacy as I see it.
ReplyDeleteHe promised much and led the slickest and most professional campaigns to win and keep power. But once in power, his inability to concentrate on details, his need to cede some power to Gordon Brown and his seduction by George Bush proved to be fatal flaws.
Although he did achieve much, all was overshadowed in his second five years by Iraq. A natural communicator and ruthless politician behind the scenes, he was undone – like Mrs. Thatcher - by hubris. His administrations eventually became bywords for spin and deceit.
“Failed to live up to his promises” - seems a fitting epitaph.
Madasafish - He hasn't "achieved much" - except insofar as the destruction of Britain is much. I don't know that it's an achievement that anyone but Hitler would like to be remembered for, though.
ReplyDeleteOrdinary Housewife - I agree with all you said, except about Iraq. His own children don't "stay safely at home". Ewan has a cushy grace and favour job in the US Senate and is living the high life in a manner bound to meet the approval of Teddy Kennedy.
A mendacious, incompetent, selfish, and corrupt traitor.
ReplyDeleteHe has damaged mainstream Britain, although with luck and time they can repair it, or can leave. Worse he has totally betrayed the interests of the honest working man, whose interests the Labour party was founded to protect. Their only survival option is as battery hens in public sector organisations that kill free thought and initiative for their inhabitants and all those they (serve) control. Only the (non-domiciled) rich and and corrupt from the rogue states of the world have been welcomed and rewarded.
There is no place in hell hot enough for him.
When abroad are you ashamed to be British?
ReplyDeleteI never voted for him (because I don't live in Sedgefield), but surely Mr Blair is neither as good as his cheerleaders made him out to be ten years ago, nor as bad as all those say who have finally turned on him now. If only the media could have lived up to their pretensions to objectivity from the outset, perhaps many mistakes might have been averted.
ReplyDeleteCould some public-spirited soul at the BBC please release onto YouTube its ritual anointment of Mr Blair, following his motorcade to No 10 by helicopter and broadcasting pictures of enthusiastic crowds that it took years for us to be told were actually paid-up Labour party members? Please let's have the whole thing, including the speech about going to be "one of the great reforming governments" - I Googled in vain for the text a couple of years ago and even Peter Hitchens couldn't help. In one act we should see the new PM's hubris and the BBC's abandonment of its charter obligation to inform. That, I think, would be a lasting memorial.
Rolf Norfolk writes: "...nor as bad as all those say who have finally turned on him now."
ReplyDeleteFinally? Finally I didn't even have to turn on him. I saved time by hating him the instant I first saw his self-regarding, malevolent face on television. I hated him within - oh - two seconds and have never wavered.
I want all the worst for Blair for the damage he has done to my country. I keep hoping that dicky ticker will start playing him up but so far, nothing. I think he should run up and down stairs more. Raquetball would be good.
Tony Blair has overseen the destruction of the United Kingdom's ancient constitutional safeguards by creating a system where a party with a significant minority of the popular vote could achieve a 50-100 seat majority in the commons, and then the executive (in the shape of the PM) can pass laws unopposed. The PM can appoint the 2nd house and effectively the judiciary so there is no effective review of legislation.
ReplyDeleteHe has abolished the key judicial safeguards of double jeopardy and the principle of trial by jury for an increasing number of offences, and one suspects would like to see it go altogether. He has also had a concerted attempt to overturn the 800yr old principle of habeas corpus.
In short he has turned us into a country which could become Zimbabwe or Hitler's Reich, and I will never forgive him for it
mens sana - Agreed. I wish him ill. If he collapsed in an area where, for some reason, I was the only person with access to a phone, I'd throw it out the window.
ReplyDeleteIRAQ,PEERAGES,POSTAL VOTING,GORDON BLOODY BROWN,CHERIE BLIAR,10 RUINED WASTED YEARS.RIP BRITAIN.
ReplyDelete"he left as he came in no class"
Blair's legacy?
ReplyDeleteThe phrases I started hearing when canvassing at the last General Election and have been hearing ever since from middle-aged and elderly people:
I wish I could leave this country;
This is no longer my country;
I'm glad I won't be alive for much longer to see what is happening to my country.
New Labour has destroyed our armed forces, our parliamentary system, our judiciary and our economic well-being.
Bloody Blairdom
ReplyDeleteLife under Blair, a bloody cuss
No bloody trains, no bloody bus
And no one thinks of bloody us
In bloody Blairdom.
All bloody rules and bloody bans
No bloody fun, just five year plans
You, bloody Blair, destroyed our land
In bloody Blairdom.
No bloody police, all bloody crime
Murderers freed
pensioners do time
In bloody Blairdom
So bloody politically correct
We want to bloody insurrect
Wake up each day, what bloody next?
In bloody Blairdom
No bloody pensions, except MP's
And bloody Broons tax robberies
Our NHS brought to it's knees
In bloody Blairdom
Our country's such a bloody mess
All bloody tax, services less
All bloody work and bloody stress
In bloody Blairdom
So, Blair what is your legacy?
No bloody freedom, no privacy
Bloody cameras, watching endlessly
Fingerprints, DNA'd ID
In bloody Blairdom
Blair's bloody wars, Iraq, Iraq
Terrorism, Killing -
Watch your back
In bloody Blairdom
PM Blair, you bloody schmo
You took ten years to bloody go
So hatred of you grows and grows
In bloody Blairdom
Your government, so bloody bad
And bloody Blair you're bloody mad
And bloody us been bloody had
In bloody Blairdom.
Time to bloody go, you bloody crook
GO BLAIR, Sling your bloody hook
Inspector Yates bring your charge book!
In bloody Blairdom
Iain and everyone else here, thhis link will be the only thing that Blair will be remembered for:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=663562007
Could we have comments and thoughts and not smarty pants little Gilbert And Sullivan manqué?
ReplyDeleteThis is too important for little schoolboy rhymes.
Did you notice, none of them has been commented upon?
This is our country! Are we really going to disappear with a giggle?
He has been the best Prime Minister since John Major.
ReplyDeleteBlair's greatest achievement is the England no longer exists. In its place are three countries.
ReplyDeleteThe first is Gangsterland. Based around London it is the wild west of the world economic community where lax regulation has resulted in an economic boom for the rich and unprincipled, where the greed of the private sector is matched only by the post-Enron accounting of the public finances. If it can be purchased from the private sector nothing is too good for these fat cats.
The second is Celticland, where local mafia have been paid large subsidies to take the problem of government away from London, and to bribe their people with public jobs and subsidy into maintaining Blair's crony's in power.
The final land is the desert where the poor and disposed from the world are herded to fight over the few remaining jobs in the real economy, dilapidated housing, declining healthcare, and nearly non-existent education. Regulation of this land is from Brussels and foreign policy is determined in Washington. The forgotten, the abused, and the original reason there was a Labour party.
sans teeth, sans brain, sans country....
Tony Blair and a small coterie of advisors dealt with repeated humiliation by the Conservatives in General Elections, by creating a modern political movement.
ReplyDeleteTony Blair changed the values and attitudes of those who represented the Labour Party and successfully undermined the "elitist" vision of politics, which was always the Conservative way. It put Conservatives out of power for a generation.
He was a cautious and reasonable politician, with brilliant communication skills. He governed a stable economy. Previous successful military interventions led him to think a war with Iraq could work. It proved a disaster for him and the country.
Blair's legacy can be summed up in five words - A Decade Of Dishonour & Deciet.
ReplyDeleteBefore anyone claims otherwise, it is six words, not five; may I remind you that 'A' is a letter, not a proper word.
P.S. UK Event, I felt and feel EXACTLY the same as you about Adolf Blair
Tony Blair. Moved from "what do you want me to believe today, folks" to "I don't give a stuff what anyone thinks" faster than any performance artist in history.
ReplyDeletePlease can I have the CDs?
what the hell could be more elitist than this bunch that think they are above the law, that have betrayed the working class they are supposed to represent.
ReplyDeleteThe old landed gentry cared far more for their people than this lot ever pretended to.
Yes there are exceptions -there are in everything but get out of that rarified place you are living in and talk to those who have worked for a lifetime and lost their pensions to Gordon
to those whose health care is a lottery of whether in a labour or conservative hospital area,
to those kids that can neither read not write,
to those who are vandalised oand burgled, knifed and murdered,
to those whose sons and daughters are in Iraq,
to those who happen - just happen to be proud to be ENGLISH
to the navy that hasn't got any ships
to the army that hasn't got any equipment
stay in Westminster mate and don't get your hands dirty amongst 'the people'
you have no idea of the sheer anger and disgust and shame felt by a large part of the electorate
and hey don't worry postal voting is on the increase!!!
sorry that was addressed to brian jenner he made me furious as do all who pontificate in wealth and security
ReplyDeletewhich he must do or wouldn't have written in such a way
modern - self seeking
Anonymous 7:44 A.M. Brilliant. Every word a piercing truth.
ReplyDeleteC4 - A Decade of Dishonour And Deceit. True. Except 'a' is a word. It is the indefinite article.
To the person above who said Blair has good communication skills: Are you daft? He's a joke at communication. He's a circus barker. He's a flim-flam man. He's sleazy and hissy.
I don't think the large revenues they are expecting to cascade in when blair quits are going to materialise.
First, no one will read his book because, as an illiterate moron with the attention span of a five year old, he is not capable of writing it himself. So who is going to have any interest in ploughing through a book written by someone else purveying Blair's lies and self-regard second hand? I think he book will be a humiliating flopperoo.
His currency in the US is going down. His performance as head of the British government has been filtering in to the US over the last couple of years. They're not that interested in him any more. Some will attend, out of curiosity, but he will not be lionised as he thinks he will.
He may make money off his "foundation" - largely financed, as are those foundations of those other two great lefty failures Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, by the Saudis. The Saudi Arabian ex-presidents and ex-prime minister petting zoo.
In the end, just as Eden is remembered for Suez, all that Blair will be remembered for is the illegal attack on Iraq.
ReplyDeleteBlair claimed he was building a "Big Tent" approach to politics but inside the "big tent" was a media circus and we all know that once the circus moves on what is left behind is the shit.
ReplyDeleteverity said...
ReplyDeleteCould we have comments and thoughts and not smarty pants little Gilbert And Sullivan manqué?
That's a bit hard, verity. Why shouldn't contributors to Iain's Blog engage in our national tradition of populist satire and humorous rhyming - which probably has its roots well before the advent of medieval morality plays?
Good or bad, I'm delighted to see that tradition maintained here. Surely the important thing is that we should all have our say and contribute, however we express ourselves?
So keep on rhyming, comrades, I laughed at all of our rhymes.
Auntie Flo'
forget specific events, Tony Bliar will go down in history as the man who totally corrupted the British political system.
ReplyDeleteAS a rational person i look at the crimes committed by this government aghast. I watch Tony Bliar and all of his ministers break UK and international law at will and constantly supported by a band of utterly valueless, morally bankrupt Labour MPs.
It is staggering that they are not all in prison, as the rest of us would be if we had behaved the same way.
we need an inquiry into this entire government - consider this- what would government look like in 10 years if Bliar was elected today for the first time? With every office of government corrupted beyond belief a future PM of his integrity could only end in dictatorship.
Auntie Flo, you are correct. It is part of our tradition and one of the few that has escaped the notice of blair and thus has, yet, no government guidelines. Rhyme on, McDuff!
ReplyDeleteIf you're anxious for to shine
In the higher Labour line,
Tho' a man of quiet despair,
Then the transcendental terms
For the Chanc'llor's nasal germs
Will serve beyond compare.
For the bogies he has mined
On the internet have shined
In the cruel cam'ra's glare
And have caused the folks on Youtube,courtesy of Guido
To laughingly despair.
And Miliband will say
As he feints Brown's mystic way,
If it's good enough for Gordon
But not good enough for me
Then what a very very queeny bod
The Chancellor must be.
It's easy to blame Blair for the awful state of our nation, but were we still to be a great nation such a hateful mountebank would never have been selected as a parliamentary candidiate, let alone become prime minister of Britain. But the Labour party was prepared to abandon any of its so-called moral principles (just shows how moral and principled they really were) to get power. Blair was the man who delivered it to them and they are really to blame for what he's done.
ReplyDeleteIf his legacy is to show up 'socialism' for what it really is then the terrifying destruction of the body politic he has presided over might just be worthwhile. He might be seen as the man who put us back on the road to virtue after decades of flirting with the whore of socialism.
That's the best I can say about a man who is one of the lowest types who has ever occupied high office in this country. I have hated him and all his corrupt cronies since I first encountered them and he is one of the few people I would find it hard to forgive even if he were to ask for it. He might even be evil - I'm still considering that possibility - although a person so palpably odious would be unlikely to be recruited by the devil - because he's too obviously hateful. It's more likely that someone like Woy Jenkins - Blair's John the Baptist - was his agent, or Mandelson the Svengali of the 'New Labour project', whose influence on the last low decade is insufficiently recognised.
verity rhymed:
ReplyDeleteFor the bogies he has mined
On the internet have shined
Brilliant, verity :)
Auntie Flo'