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THE LEGACY OF BLAIR
Poyer Hussain Angela
It is well known that during his
first months in office, in 1997,
Tony Blair�s approval ratings were
higher than any other former Prime
Minister, but also that during the
latter stages of his premiership
Blair had the misfortune of having
the lowest approval ratings. Why
such a dramatic change in public
opinion? It is hard to believe Blair ever considered himself a socialist, supporting the campaign for unilateral nuclear disarmament, fighting against the threat to civil liberties, opposing capital punishment. In all honesty I always had a sneaking suspicion that he was in actual fact an undercover agent for the conservatives to ruin the Labour party from within! If that is the case his mission may be deemed a success by his superiors, job well done. Anyway this was in fact the case for the early part of his career, and it is most likely this so-called enthusiasm and the abhorrent word that many used to describe Blair, CHARISMA, that ensured his rapid rise in the hierarchy of the Labour Party. After the death of John Smith in 1994, a race for the leadership ensued, and subsequently Tony Blair won the leadership election in a three way battle, and later went on to win the general election. While it is true that Labour love to revel in past glories of the 1997 election which was won in such a dramatic fashion, the famous image of the labour members dancing bizarrely on stage to their campaign song �things can only get better,� have they? I don�t think anyone else has noticed. Anyway the reason for there overwhelming victory was more to do with the Conservatives and Major�s sheer incompetence, then Labours ridiculous attempt to reinvent themselves in the new media era. Following this famous landslide victory there was an appearance of great fervour in undoing the fundamental mistakes of the previous government, and there seemed to be a real intent for change and modernisation to the old ways of politics. Such as in the case for Constitutional reform and in particular reforming the House of Lords which in recent years came to the forefront of British politics. But even as these promises in the manifesto started its initial stages there was often an uncertainty as to its approach, and more specifically a lack of direction and end goal. After the House of Lords Act was passed in 1999, the quantity of hereditary peers was dramatically reduced by 90%. But as to its ultimate goal, there was a sense of indecisiveness as to whether the members of the House would be elected or nominated and other such detail. The end result came to a compromise that was far from the radical proposals initially set out by the Labour Party. Looking at a positive aspect of Blair�s premiership is his role in assisting the Northern Ireland Peace Process by helping to negotiate The Good Friday Agreement, which he is commonly attributed and commended for. This was an immense achievement for there was a deep and intertwining history of violence which back dated to the 1800s. After Labour�s second success in the General Election, in 2001, Tony Blair made yet more promises that he could not fulfil, promising a revolutionary I.T system for the NHS. The reality of the situation is that the entire cost of the project was under-quoted, and overspent on a useless system that does not even fulfil basic requirements, let alone meet expectations of increased efficiency within the NHS. In fact the project insists on providing continuous headaches for the government, one official even claiming that �the National Programme for IT in the NHS is currently sleepwalking towards disaster1.� Tony Blair�s greatest mistake was his eagerness to get this system up and running, rather than listening to informed advisers as to the possible problems that could arise. The question that Tony Blair eagerly asked was when this system could be implemented, not if it could be implemented, and what may be the problems faced whilst implementing the system, this was his ultimate undoing. The notorious relationship with George W. Bush was most likely an immense contributor to Tony Blair�s downfall. Blair had a very good relationship with the previous president, Clinton, which many thought could not be equalled let alone surpassed, although America and Britain would always have a good working relationship. But Blair�s loyalty became such that he was often criticised for allowing Bush to be his puppet master. This personal alliance came to the public�s eye when the so-called �War on Terror� began with the War in Afghanistan. Blair showed his support in America�s foreign policy, sending troops into Afghanistan in 2001, who are still continuing to fight a battle that they thought they had previously won. As there could be some justification and argument for invading Afghanistan, there was no such clear excuse that could be used for Iraq; this became abundantly clear with the series of information that seeped through after the War began. The �Dodgy Dossier� was subjected to spin and in fact plagiarised from a number of sources or changed somewhat to present a more extreme view of circumstances. This damming evidence that came to light was naturally destructive for Blair�s career as a PM, which was the real starting point of declining approval ratings, and mistrust within the general public, as it was an example of a PM blatantly caught in the act. Later when the Hutton Report came out this did not help matters, but was not an out and out criticism of the government as some might have hoped. After this supposed crookedness from the Labour Party they never seemed to really get away from scandal. Who said politics was ever tedious, well certainly not during those few years of British politics. In February 2004 Labour disassociated themselves with the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers), who were in part the founder of the Labour Party. It was traditionally a working mans party and was founded for the specific reason of representation in parliament for the working class which was previously non existent, but certain policies which seemed ever from the right wing such as privatisation of the healthcare sector and education were the reason for growing hostility between the two parties. Consequently �New� Labour had been made more accessible to the masses and as a result severely compromising its ideological integrity. In the latter stages of Blair�s premiership the �cash for honours� scandal did not help his already declining public image, which was already a somewhat steep drop, and which threatened to take a vertical turn further downwards. Labour was accused of accepting donations that were not on the books by certain members of the business community, who then were rewarded by nominations for a peerage. It must be noted that no one was formally charged, but the fact that even the PM was questioned regarding the matter reflects the seriousness of the accusations, as this was a precedence in British Politics. It is said by his close friends that during the latter stages in office Blair became obsessed with his legacy. So he may be glad to know that he will be a figure that stands the test of time historically, but not quite as he intended. On the other hand looking at Blair�s statistics some of his amazing achievements must be mentioned, however grudgingly, leading Labour to victory on three consecutive elections, and the longest running PM in recent years are no achievements to be overlooked. He was a very successful orator and flourished during PMQs (Prime Minister Questions that are held in parliament every Wednesday), particularly during the early years of his premiership. Blair stood by his policies and decisions no matter how unpopular they may have been with the general public or how miserably they failed. Famous decisions include the Iraq and Afghanistan War, and the not so famous include Top Up fees (Regarding University Tuition Fees). So in conclusion, my findings suggest and my gut instinct tells me that deep down he may possibly perhaps be a decent enough human being, and may have been delusional enough to actually believe that morally, he carried out the correct actions. As to his legacy, it is a shame for Blair that history tends to look at the defining events of a PM�s premiership, which in his case will undoubtedly be the Iraq War. Someone once said that �Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies,� this may just be Blair�s philosophy, at least unconsciously. _____ About the author: Poyer Hussain is based in London, UK. She could be contacted at [email protected] Reference:
1. Brooks,
Richard. �Systems Failure.� Private Eye 2 March 2007: 17-24
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