Scottish setback?
New supporters are being added to those who have always supported the SNP vision for an independent Scotland. They believe Scotland could be better off as an independent state because it would have sole control and reap the profits of Scotland's oil reserves, which they believe would expand the Scottish economy.
The fact that the opposition party likely to gain the most in the Scottish Parliament elections is not the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats but the SNP is evidence of what is making people angry; perhaps more so than any of the above. The Scottish people want to distance themselves from Blair's foreign policy, and they see the SNP vision for an independent Scotland as the best way to do that.
But perhaps the biggest disadvantage of having Blair still on-board is his unrelenting support for Bush and the U.S., combined with anti-U.S. feeling in the U.K. running at an all-time high. This is largely because of Bush's foreign policy, which Blair has followed blindly. Even though support for the Iraq war and Bush and Blair are at an all-time low, Blair refuses, whatever his reasoning, to criticise Bush even slightly, no matter how stupid his foreign policies seem.
The latest U.S bombing in Somalia is yet another example, Blair was asked in Parliament last week if he was concerned by the air strikes from the US air force carried out on Somali targets.. It was suggested by Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn that what was needed was not foreign intervention but a peace process. Blair agreed: "What is in the interests of everyone in Somalia is to have a peace process that works properly.”
Bearing in mind that for the last 15 years Somalis have endured either all-out war or total violent chaos in the country, Blair should surely have stopped there, or perhaps added something like: “and that is what everybody, including the U.S wants to see in the country.” Instead he said: the extremists at work in Somalia pose a threat not just to those outside Somalia but those within it as well; global terrorism around the world had "a clear ideology and strategy" and where lives were being affected by it, it was right that those responsible were targeted. Bush can do no wrong in Blair's eyes.
Article comments
1 - Zedd
Thank you Liam
I had heard it suggested that he may be leaving in May. Off course some are eager for him to vacate much sooner.
Tell me, what happened with him? He started out so strong then all of a sudden he turned into Bush's lap dog. What is fascinating is that he is incredibly intelligent and shrewd. A friend of mine was just certain that Rove had filmed him in a bizarre naughty situation and THAT was the reason for his being on board so vehemently.
2 - Atomboy
Ah, yes, Tony Blair, the genesis of New Labour and now its nemesis, hanging round its neck like a millstone and bringing the whole thing collapsing down upon himself. That chap who started with the fresh, young face and open grin and now has the bulging eyes of the mentally disturbed and the grimace of someone who knows the game is up.
The problem is, he so desperately wants to be loved that the more he sees he is hated, the more he will dig his heels in and stay.
New Labour had their time in the sun like the Tories under Mrs Thatcher. People eventually saw both of them to be corrupt, so now it's back to the wilderness.
If a week is a long time in politics, why do they learn nothing in ten years?