Tony Blair Quits His War Peace Term As Britain’s Prime Minister
Tony Blair, Britain’s youngest Prime Minister when he came to office some 10 years ago, has quit — ending a long term that saw moments of peace, war, predictions that he would be a political powerhouse, praise for his loyalty to the United States and criticism that he had become too deferential to U.S. President George Bush.
Tony Blair today announced he was stepping down after 10 years as prime minister and 13 as Labour leader.
The prime minister returned to his political roots in the north east for his swansong, telling supporters at Trimdon Labour club he would stand down as PM on June 27. He will tender his resignation to the Queen on that day.
In an emotional 17-minute speech, he said the judgment on his 10-year administration was “for you, the people, to make”. Mr Blair paid special tribute to his wife and children “who never let me forget my failings”.
And he apologised for “the times I have fallen short”.
But he concluded: “Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong – that’s your call. But I did what I thought was right for our country.
The Christian Science Monitor puts it into perspective in a piece (that should be read in full) this way:
On a balmy Friday morning a decade ago, Britain’s last and youngest prime minister of the 20th century emerged bleary-eyed into the spring sunshine and promised the country a different society: fair, modern, progressive – less cynical and divisive. The tune from an all-night victory party still resounded: Things can only get better.
On Thursday, 10 years and eight days from that heady May morning, Tony Blair finally resigned as Labour Party leader, setting his departure for June 27. He did so to a muted response.
Much of the promise of 1997 has evaporated in the harsh glare of Iraq, a war that detractors say utterly overshadowed Mr. Blair’s domestic program. Not so, say admirers, who tick off transformations they say have left Britain more prosperous, progressive, and democratic than ever before: strong economic growth, peace in Northern Ireland, an antipoverty campaign and modernization of public services like health and education.
“Prime ministers tend to get one sentence in history books and in Blair’s case that will probably be Iraq,” says John Rentoul, a Blair biographer. “But he has been prime minister for quite a long time, so he might get another sentence on how he made Britain a fairer place.”
Or, as Blair put it in his resignation speech Thursday, “There is only one government since 1945 that can say all of the following: more jobs, fewer unemployed, better health and education results, lower crime, and economic growth in every quarter.”
The debate will continue over Blair for many years to come — a debate that will be waged by commentors, political partisans in the United States and Britain and, most importantly, in Europe.
Was he a man of great courage and conviction, a kind of Churchillian American ally, willing to sacrifice his career for an unpopular policy that in the long run would strengthen both countries? Or did he put too much trust in the Bush administration and President George Bush in particular, and did he become political collateral damage in the Iraq War?
And WHO influenced him? According to TimesOnline, Blair was inexorably changed by five Americans.
Also read a roundup at Pajamas Media.
4 Responses to “Tony Blair Quits His War Peace Term As Britain’s Prime Minister”
[...] Tony Blair Steps Down! Tony Blair shocks the world today as he resigns from the office of Prime Minister. [...]
It’s too bad the Brits did not appreciate him and that the left harrangued him because he was actually trying to fight terrorism.
I remember thinking what a terrific Prime Minister he seemed to be shortly after he took office. And I believe he made the right geopolitical decision to quickly ally with the US in the general “war on terror.” But that wise decision quickly became the grappling hook that inexorably pulled Britain into Bush’s catastrophic blunder in Iraq. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Damn shame, too.
Since Blair took office 10 years ago, the country hasn’t had a single quarter of negative growth. Unemployment, long a chronic problem, is now just 5.4% compared with 7.1% in Germany and 8.8% in France.
But the Prime Minister also leaves behind a Britain that has been transformed over the past two decades into a top economic performer. More important, perhaps, Blair has helped create a political culture that is Europe’s healthiest.
Despite grumbling about the excesses of private equity and hedge funds, the City’s spectacular dealmaking showers wealth across the country.
The major dangers for the British economy are from the same risks stalking the U.S. It is possible that Britain could be hurt by a crunch in house prices, growing debt, and high budget deficits.
Through it all Tony Blair has been an amazingly successful Prime Minister. His party once an opponent of business is probably even more favorable towards business then the Tories.
He has done wonders for the country and should be commended. His decision to fight terror alongside the USA is to be commended, because despite the rancor its created, it has also been a hard problem that finally needed someone with courage to deal with it.
George Bush and Tony Blair will go down in History together. Who wins is who will write the history Books. But it will be Tony Blair and George Bush much as it was Winston Churchill and FDR. They are and will forever be indelibly linked.