Well, the final scenes are being played out in the exit of Tony Blair as PM of the United Kingdom. Last evening, Gordon Brown was (S)elected as the leader of the British Labour Party, and the Blair years are finally coming to a close.
So, what was Tony Blair really? Was he a spin obsessed publicity mad crowd pleaser, or a man who followed whatever he believed in, and damn anyone for the consequences?
Tony Blair, at first glance did not seem to be a poster boy for the labour party. A son of a barrister, with a private school education, he certainly did not fit the breeding bill! A music enthusiast, he even had his own band, though he was more interested in managing a band than playing in one. From the very first, people remember him as having an image of cool, rather than just being cool.
The passing away of his mother from cancer made his interest in religion more than just a passing phase, and in a country where the Prime Minister is hardly ever questioned on his faith, Tony Blair has certainly not hidden his own Christian faith and his convictions.
Elected for the first time in 1983 after losing in 81, Blair was made MP of a newly made seat that was carved out of a labour stronghold. It was a bad time for England though, with unemployment soaring. Blair’s own constituency faced unemployment of over 20% and it is Blair was at the forefront of securing rights for his people.
But the writing was on the wall, and Blair recognized that the power of the unions was fading, and made a call in “The Northern Echo” to make the labour party more appealing to those who could afford their own houses, and were in the solid middle class, (conservatives, in other words).
Little did he imagine that these words were treasonous to the old labour way of thinking, with labour MP Davis Skinner calling him a traitor to socialism. The Blair — Brown Partnership
This partnership was initially formed with Gordon Brown being the more powerful person, who also shared Blair’s belief that in order to be electable, the labour party must be more middle class in its mentality. Soon, the trio of Blair, Brown and Peter Mandelson began to take on the task of making labour more pretty than in its flag waving strike loving days.
How was this done? Old labour would have been scandalised. Focus groups, marketing campaigns, targeted leaks…all the tactics which they accused of the conservatives were now the tools that the trio used in order to make labour look better. In time, they became more and more powerful, moving rapidly through the shadow cabinet ranks within the opposition that they were forced to endure during the Thatcher Years.
The Leadership Deal–The seeds of Conflict The death of Labour leader John Smith of a heart attack in 1994 was the opportunity for the two upcoming leaders. It was widely expected that the elder Brown would be the candidate for party leadership, but in a closed doors meeting with Blair, a deal was thrashed out. Even today, nobody is sure of the contents. But what is clear is that Gordon Brown withdrew from the leadership race, but he did extract his pound of flesh. In return, he got control of the treasury and the right to advice on national policy that no chancellor before could have had. But this move was made in the background of the switch in loyalties displayed by Mandelson, the third of the trio. Abandoning the staid and “boring” Brown, he sided with the new labour that was represented by Tony Blair, with his ready smile, dialogue and expertise with making babies love him all over the country. There is little doubt that this switch was looked at with disfavour by the Brown Camp.
The Early Years– Everything goes right!
Tony Blair and Labour swept to a landslide victory in 1997, on the promise of nothing less than altering the entire civil society of Britain and the UK. But while his rhetoric was earth shaking, the reality was quite a bit less trailblazing. But nobody could deny the young prime ministers ability to connect with the people, through television, or in person. His smile may have been plastic, but it never wavered, and the grin on his face was a testament to his ability to manage events that surrounded him. Weeks after his election, his eulogy of Princess Diana was a masterpiece, and the phrase “People’s Princess” is one that will be remembered long after Tony himself hands over the reigns of power.
And When Cherie announced that she was pregnant and little baby Leo was born, it sent approval ratings through the roof. Nothing seemed to unite Britain quite like their Prime Ministers Fatherhood, and Tony was riding high with approval ratings of over 90%. And with successful NATO interventions in Sierra Leone and Kosovo, it seemed as if Tony’s voice on the world stage was no longer that of a toothless old man, but a strong and dedicated leader.
Another huge change that was less talked about, but did happen partly due to labour rule and Blair was the rise of multicultural Britain. Not only was Chicken Tikka Masala displacing fish and chips and Yorkshire Pudding, but the captain was Nasser Hussein, and Bollywood dreams was the flavour of the month. (It bombed though)
Things Go Wrong– George Bush and Iraq
With the election of George W Bush Jr. to the White House, people expected the warm chemistry that had developed between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to dissipate, and a cooling off in relations to begin. Strangely enough, the barristors son and the oilman’s son hit it off brilliantly, linked by their strong faiths. The September 11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre were an opportunity for Tony Blair to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dubyaman in the lens of the TV cameras, and from that instant on, Tony’s downward spiral seemed to begin.
Before that itself, Tony wished to ring in the millennium by having Britain adopt the Euro…but that was effectively scuppered by Gordon Brown and his 5 point checklist. The Europhile Tony Blair was effectively snubbed by his chancellor, exposing rifts within the labour insider list.
The initial assault on Afghanistan was mostly welcomed (even by me…I am not a big Taliban fan). But after that, hanging on to Dubya’s coat-tails began to hurt. Dubya’s axis of evil speech did not have to be greeted with wild cheering by Tony, and the report to Parliament about Saddam Hussein and his 40 minute strike capability was a wild exaggeration at best, and blatant falsehood at worst.
As things turned out, Iraq is what Tony Blair will be remembered for. The Iraq disaster was looked at by the tabloids as a symptom of the spin obsession of the Blair Government, and finally led to Alistair Campbell, a long time insiders ousting from the inside advisers council. A cash for peerage scandal also loomed, and suddenly, the knives were out for this formerly Teflon PM. Now, nothing could go right. Even his deputy prime minister swinging a punch at a drunk heckler became a symptom of Blair’s failure. And the image of an easygoing youthfu prime minister has faded with time into a tired and image obsessed man, who has clung on to power far longer than he should have.
Epilogue
Can we write off Tony now? I fear we may have to. Sure, Bush wants him in a middle east role, but there is little trust in the middle east for the man who wanted to be deputy sheriff of the world. And a return to frontline British politics seems unlikely for the man who ruled for a decade. But as Tony’s speech announcing his departure demonstrated, this man still has the magic needed to manipulate his audience. Labour will miss his charisma, and his hand with babies. But I doubt they will miss his policies.
