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Original poster

To really wish someone other than Tony Blair had asked us to rise up against brexit?

323 replies

DeviTheGaelet · 17/02/2017 14:57

Can't see a thread about this. And yes I know there is a brexit topic but I wanted to post in AIBU to see what people thought. If you don't want to read about brexit and have no opinion click away now.
Tony Blair is urging remainers to rise up against brexit because we didn't know what we were voting for and it's going to be disastrous for the country.
I totally agree it's a disaster and I think it's shocking we can plunge into the unknown when only just over 50% of voters voted for it in an advisory referendum with a campaign based on lies. I've been desperate for a political party to get behind on a remain ticket.
But why the fuck does it have to be Tony Blair, the man who totally ignored strong public feeling on Iraq who says this? Where are the opposition in parliament?

OP posts:
lokisglowstickofdestiny1 · 18/02/2017 07:32

I might be persuaded to change my vote to Remain in a 2nd referendum if the EU said they will try Blair and his cabal for war crimes.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 18/02/2017 07:36

People didn't even know where he stood until a few weeks into the referendum campaign he was utterly useless and lying through his back teeth he has always been anti EU so wasn't going to push the agenda. As as for not sharing a platform with Cameron how utterly pathetic

He didn't deliver anything

And what do I and others expect him to do run the opposition the job he has been elected to do! To put up an opposition. Put an alternative plan together that's what is expected of him not just him wittering on about an unfair society

You know what ex Labour PM did yesterday

SeaWitchly · 18/02/2017 08:03

And what do I and others expect him to do run the opposition the job he has been elected to do! To put up an opposition. Put an alternative plan together that's what is expected of him not just him wittering on about an unfair society

An opposition to Brexit? Sorry that ship has sailed thanks to Cameron.

The opposition is not there to just oppose everything the Tories say and do. Brexit is happening, there is no way to turn this around now and so it has to be managed with a fairer society in mind. And this is what Corbyn is talking about.

What do you really think Tony Blair can do about it? It's all very well him talking about it from his platform in the city but what do you think he can actually do? So it's all just meaningless words from one of the most hated politicians of recent times isn't it.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 18/02/2017 08:08

TB is putting up a proposal it's something

That is what Corbyn should be doing

An alternative plan

Something anything Corbyn should have put something forward he has had months to work on it a paper with Labours Brexit strategy and push for cross party negotiations

He has done absolutely nothing he is an utter disgrace

GwenStaceyRocks · 18/02/2017 08:13

Corbyn doesn't have a proposal. Blair took us into Iraq. I know which one makes me most angry.
Blair is opportunistic and arrogant with no sense of history. He confuses virtue signalling with morals.He sounds exactly the right person to lead a campaign to stand up against Brexit.

SeaWitchly · 18/02/2017 08:28

I think Corbyn needs to get his own party in line first. Can't be easy when you have the likes of Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed fucking off to lucrative positions at the V & A and nuclear industry [good riddance].

Breadwidow · 18/02/2017 08:28

People protested against the war in Iraq but I don't think TB would have lost a referendum on it. The press were behind him. Oh how the worm has turned.

I marched etc in 2003. What he did over Iraq was wrong. But everything he said yesterday was right. Plus he apart from Iraq he was the best PM since atlee. I miss him. There I've said it. Fuck what would I do to have him back, leading the country.

merrymouse · 18/02/2017 08:29

Corbyn may not be able to oppose Brexit, but he needs to challenge them on the detail.

For instance how do they plan to regulate food and drugs post Brexit, and how will that affect the NHS?

May apparently thinks she has a bargaining chip because she could turn the UK into a tax haven, but does she have the electoral mandate to do that? Would the Labour Party support that? What is the alternative?

Aderyn2016 · 18/02/2017 08:32

Iraq wasn't some tiny blip - there are thousands dead who shouldn't be and it created a power vacuum now being filled by isis. Thanks for that Tony.

Aderyn2016 · 18/02/2017 08:34

Grin I appear to have accidentally linked to vacuum cleaners on ebay. I have no idea how I did that!

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 18/02/2017 08:37

Well May and her team have managed to get the Tory party in line what do you think her team has been doing all this time it so no excuse why Corbyn can't

And while working on that work on their own Brexit paper

What does he actually do I am truly baffled

Yes as much as I opposed the Iraq war (I marched too) I would like Blair back he was at times great for this country

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 18/02/2017 08:38

Grin Aderyn2016

Itisnoteasybeingdifferent · 18/02/2017 08:48

How great we he really?
He took ove an economy that had money in the bank.. and left us bankrupt
He failed to deliver any infrastructure, but spent billions on community engagement co workers
He flooded the north with immigrants... creating the conditions for Leave to flourish
He took us into ainillegal war on a pack of lies creating the conditions for terrorism we live with today
He created a mountain of regulations and paperwork that add nothing to national wealth
He sold the NHS to private contractors leaving us pay the debts for generations to come.

And he greatest concern is how history would view his legacy...

merrymouse · 18/02/2017 08:51

Most senior politicians on both sides supported the Iraq war. Had they been in power the conservatives would have supported Bush.

The only way Britain could have avoided war would have been if a senior leader with substantial support from the public had opposed it. Robin Cook and Nigel Kennedy were prepared to risk their careers, but Corbyn has always been more comfortable on the back benches.

Corbyn had no interest in being in government in the 2000s and appears to have no interest in being prime minister now.

Theresa May could declare a war tomorrow and the Labour Party would be powerless to do anything about it. Although I'm sure Corbyn would speak at a demonstration.

greenworm · 18/02/2017 08:53

David Miliband is the only other name who comes to mind, but I doubt he has the appetite for it.

Interesting - I think there's a lot of good will towards David Milliband. He would definitely be an infinitely better person (in terms of influence over the public) to lead this campaign than Blair.

merrymouse · 18/02/2017 08:57

Errr Charles Kennedy!!!! N

scaryteacher · 18/02/2017 09:02

@Silverhawk, it's also telling that neither Blair, Brown nor Cameron have been made Garter Knights, whereas both Mrs.T and John Major were.

Breadwidow · 18/02/2017 09:10

Good things Tony Blair achieved as PM:
Lifting millions of children out of poverty via policies like tax credits and min wage
Establishment of sure start centres which were shown to be extremely effective in improving health/educational outcomes for disadvantaged children
Good Friday agreement
Devolution for Scotland & Wales
Increased spending on NHS = best outcomes in years/shorter waiting times (now being reversed)

I would also add interventions in Kosovo & Sierra Leone to that list

He did not flood the north with immigrants, EU enlargement resulted in more EU migrants but he didn't personally invite them. Looking back he could have perhaps done the same thing as Germany & restricted immigration from new EU member states like Poland for 10 years. However, the decisions he took were based on some pretty sound advice re migration predictions so I can see why he made them.

TheFullMrexit · 18/02/2017 09:10

Good list it's not easy. Can we also add his government's failure to close the poverty gap, it's shameful record on child poverty, and then laying the ground for the huge surge in food banks which didn't suddenly appear when tory coalition came in but grew under Blair.

Breadwidow · 18/02/2017 09:10

Merrymouse, you are 100% correct

Chelazla · 18/02/2017 09:32

On a personal level I hate Blair- he sent my husband to an illegal war where he saw his friends killed. He could talk all the sense in the world but I can't get past that, how he can talk about the will of the people when he ignored the millions who protested the Iraq war I'll never know.
In terms of leaving the EU despite watching every debate, reading all I could etc I didn't vote. The system we have wasn't working but I worried it would be a frying pan to fire situation. However, the condescending attitude from remainers towards people who voted brexit has been truly shameful. The you're northern, thick, uneducated, didn't understand what you were doing etc leads me to believe people would not change their mind and vote exactly the same. All the people I know who voted to leave (including teachers, business owners not just unemployed racists) are furious at how they've been viewed. Why should we vote again because it didn't go the way you wanted? The remainers would not be clamouring for a re-vote if the margin was the other way!

Tanith · 18/02/2017 09:55

On a personal level I hate Blair- he sent my husband to an illegal war where he saw his friends killed

I come from a Forces family. They saw their friends and family killed in the Falklands, in Ireland, and still do in Syria.

In terms of leaving the EU despite watching every debate, reading all I could etc I didn't vote.

Then you abdicated your right to criticise those who did.

However, the condescending attitude from remainers towards people who voted brexit has been truly shameful.

Nothing more shameful than being in fear of your safety and your life. Remainers have seen someone shot on the street, people have been physically attacked and abused.

Why should we vote again because it didn't go the way you wanted?

I thought you didn't vote?

The remainers would not be clamouring for a re-vote if the margin was the other way!

The Leavers certainly would! Nigel Farage is on record as saying so.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 18/02/2017 09:56

I agree devi I just can't see anyone rallying around Blair.

I would honestly love another referendum but I have a horrible feeling leafs would win again.

Tanith · 18/02/2017 09:58

I think the very fact that they've wheeled out the big guns to attack him shows that Tony Blair has done the right thing in speaking out.
He certainly seems to have them running scared. If he were irrelevent and so despised, they'd have ignored him.

GraceGrape · 18/02/2017 10:13

I agree with Tanith. If he hadn't touched a nerve, surely the Brexiteers would just be rolling their eyes and dismissing him.