Blair's legacy

[AZOffaly]

I think Blair's lasting legacy will be twofold. In our country he will be remembered as the lucky PM in the right place at the right time to deliver a lasting( Please God) peace.

In the UK I think his legacy will be the Torification of the Labour Party. The Labour Party of Neil Kinnock is long dead and buried, and Blair was the assassin and undertaker.

To be honest, I think he will be a sidebar or a footnote when the world thinks about Iraq/Afghanistan.

[deiseach]

Let's be honest, every British government in my lifetime would have done the same, so would David Cameron, Charles Kennedy and the rest if they were in Blairs position.

Ken Clarke was quite vociferous in his opposition to the war. However, given the regularity with which the Tories spurned him because of his refusal to be obsessed with bashing Johnny Foreigner, gays, career women, single mothers and hippies, he was in real terms about as close to the top job as the late Screaming Lord Sutch.

With that in mind, I agree with you. The Brits are in thrall to the myth of the special relationship. "We will be Greece to their Rome", said Harold MacMillan, and this idea that the Americans give a rat's ass about Britain's opinion has informed British foreign policy since the Yanks slapped them down in Suez.

[magickingdom]

With that in mind, I agree with you. The Brits are in thrall to the myth of the special relationship. "We will be Greece to their Rome", said Harold MacMillan, and this idea that the Americans give a rat's ass about Britain's opinion has informed British foreign policy since the Yanks slapped them down in Suez.

absolutely, i was born in the states and spent half my life there and the only time i heard about the 'special relationship' was on this side of the pond. america couldnt care less about it..

[Shamrock Shore]

As one commentator correctly said today that if you scratched Blair there was feck all underneath. A politician of his times he will not be remembered for his Norn Iron policies nor his Queen of Hearts spinning but for being George W's lickspittle.

I believe Geoffrey Wheatcroft's biography 'Yo Blair' is well worth a read.