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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:
Chelazla · 18/02/2017 10:17

Tanith I think some of your points are valid however I think you have to remember the Iraq war was 100% illegal. I think a lot of people share my view on Blair. I am also not criticising how people voted just the refusal to accept it since and the condescending attitude people have taken. I still don't really know what's right or wrong but I suspect we will find out because I cannot see another vote taking place. On the whole it's just a shame that the whole world seems so divided at the moment.

Sunnymeg · 18/02/2017 10:18

I would have more time for TB's comments if I didn't believe that he fancies being President of the EU. There have been plenty of political articles written in the past citing that this is his ultimate ambition. I believe in democracy and would have accepted the vote if it had gone down to a majority of a mere handful of votes. I also believe that the losing side, has the right to protest and comment. The only other thing I would add is that there have been lots of references made in the media and online about older people voting to leave. If you look up the government approved literature which was used to support staying in the Common Market, in the 1975 referendum and read what people were told about how the Common Market would be allowed to evolve, it is easy to see why older people feel betrayed by what they were told back then and why there has been a simmering resentment against the EU by the older generation.

Original poster
DeviTheGaelet · 18/02/2017 10:30

Threads like this are what make me convinced we are being astroturfed. People popping up and parroting out the same phrases, not really having a conversation. It's scary.

My main issue with TB and nu-labour is one think their govt did a lot to break down trust between the public and politicians which lead to people not listening to "remoaners" and fucking Gove getting away with "people have had enough of experts" in this referendum.

OP posts:
AllThePrettySeahorses · 18/02/2017 11:10

TSSDNOCP What bit is 'bolkocks'? The fact that Hussein used the WMD Sarin gas? Here you go - news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_events/html/chemical_warfare.stm . The fact that the Iraq War was popular? Let's see yougov.co.uk/news/2015/06/03/remembering-iraq/ . Perhaps not so much 'bollocks' then.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 18/02/2017 11:18

people have had enough of experts

The whole move towards a mistrust of experts and the liberal elites is awful. I live in the north and I think I can see how this comes about.
There's not enough investment and decent jobs. The most ambitious and intelligent of my friends have moved south or moved abroad.

I moved from a deprived area to an affluent (but still northern) area. There's lots of people from my old town who have shit jobs, their children get a crap education and there's no prospect of that changing.

I'm feel certain that if more effort had been put into improving these areas years and years ago the vote would have been remain.

That's why I think another vote would end up being leave again - because it's still grim up north (not just the north).

MirabelleTree · 18/02/2017 11:29

I winced yesterday when I woke up and Blair all over the BBC news saying what I feel someone needs to be saying for now adult DD's generation who was denied a vote in the Referendum, despite being eligible to pay NI if she earned enough.

My hope is it will make some MP's think and I would like to see a new political part form in the very near future. We're past the point of no return in my opinion but as the biggest decision in post war Britain it is essential this works. That article floating around stating Britain will be better off by 2050 is all well and good but my 18 year old daughter will be 53 by then, that is a massive chunk of her adult life and she'll be older than I am now.

Someone needs to hold TM to account over her claims that 65 million people are united behind her to make Brexit work. No they are not and to not acknowledge the massive divide in opinion is ridiculous. It was ignoring the massive divide and strength of feeling that led to the outcome which the Tory party were clearly not prepared for. Ignoring the divide now is storing up further problems big time.

And if Brexit's biggest obstacle is lack of positive thinking then it says very little about any merits it might actually have and am still hoping to be persuaded on.

Caprianna · 18/02/2017 12:20

The distrust of experts and the liberal elite is just weird. This is how Trump came to power. The climate change denier. What do the experts know eh? Very scary!

Brokenbiscuit · 18/02/2017 12:28

I'm feel certain that if more effort had been put into improving these areas years and years ago the vote would have been remain.

I think you're absolutely right, When. There has been chronic under-investment in these areas for decades, and people rightly want more from their lives and for their children's lives. The reason that people have lost trust in the so-called liberal elite is because the people in power have failed to do anything about the problems that these people face. They feel let down and neglected, because we have let them down and neglected them.

The real tragedy of the Brexit vote is that it won't solve the problems that these regions face, it will just make them even worse. If it's grim up north now, it's about to get a whole lot grimmer.

GraceGrape · 18/02/2017 12:59

If Philip Hammond's suggestions of redirecting the economy towards a low-regulation tax-haven after Brexit are put into action, things will be whole lot worse for anyone in poorer areas. Less tax revenue means less funding for welfare, NHS, Education etc while doing nothing to address the lack of employment opportunities in some region. The thought of my children being reliant on the "gig economy" worries me sick.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 18/02/2017 13:08

Thanks broken you've articulated it so much better than I did.

It is going to get a whole lot grimmer That's what pisses me off about Brexit more than anything.

The "left behind" issues are massive but they don't have a huge amount to do with Brexit. Voting to leave isn't going to help the North, Wales or Cornwall quite the opposite

I worry for my kids. Yes I'm worried about Brexit but I'm more worried about cuts to schools.

TheFullMrexit · 18/02/2017 13:21

There is mass collective eye rolling at Blair. Very funny lady on sky news this am pretty well summed it up. This is big gun who has zero credibility, is power mad and has friends expose the power hungry narrasicist that he is. He is a national disgrace

TheFullMrexit · 18/02/2017 13:23

Was kind humane politicians like Frank field would say very different. His mantra during the ref campaign was vote leave for the poor. His area of course is Birkenhead one of most deprived in the country.

BakeOffBiscuits · 18/02/2017 13:27

I'm just listening to Any Questions on Radio 4. A woman said "Blair's speech was a fantastic piece of oratory" and she got a huge round of aplauseConfused. Imo it was badly delivered and full of vomit inducing nonsense.

Brokenbiscuit · 18/02/2017 13:58

Actually, I thought his speech was very good, as speeches go. Unfortunately for him, I can't get past my loathing of what he did in Iraq in order to really take what he says seriously. But he is undoubtedly a very good orator.

Davros · 18/02/2017 19:14

The Blair Rich Project means TB has no plausibility. He has no integrity. Although I'm not a supporter, at least I feel that Gordon Brown, David (and Ed) Milliband have some integrity. i.e. Someone much better could head this campaign.
I was holding my sides laughing when I saw TB preaching, not only form the City but from a US city institution. Talk about playing into the hands of Leavers. I agree that he's after the big EU job. And don't start me on Kinnock and his wife .....

PickledCauliflower · 19/02/2017 00:19

He's after his job...

To really wish someone other than Tony Blair had asked us to rise up against brexit?
LellyMcKelly · 19/02/2017 03:35

Wish it wasn't him, but he made more sense than anyone else has so far. I'm sick of Brexit. I'm sick of it overwhelming politics to the extent that we're so consumed by it that all the important things - health, education, welfare, business, energy, transport, etc. are being subsumed, or ignored, or flavoured by its taint. As citizens, we are not taking back control. We are staring, gape mouthed, at the disengenuity spouting from the mouths of our elected leaders and the bizarre antics of Trump while control is being lifted from us. This 'we have to pull together' shit is nonsense. No, we don't. I am an EU citizen, my children are EU citizens. We are losing rights and privileges, and instead we are aligning ourselves, out of desperation, with some lunatic we think will be kind to us because his mum was Scottish. Fucking hell.

Breadwidow · 19/02/2017 08:27

Lelly, you have neatly summed up how I feel.

Lottapianos · 19/02/2017 08:44

Well said Lelly

birdsdestiny · 19/02/2017 10:20

If it's a choice between standing with Boris, and Farage, and by association Trump, then I choose Tony Blair every single time.

scaryteacher · 19/02/2017 10:32

Lelly I don't feel like an EU citizen one little bit. I am a Brit.

Davros Love the Blair Rich project, and those committed socialists, the Kinnocks and Mandleson, making out like bandits at the EU.

Brokenbiscuit · 19/02/2017 10:39

I don't feel like an EU citizen one little bit. I am a Brit.

Good for you. I am a British citizen AND an EU citizen. I am angry that I will be stripped of my EU citizenship without my consent.

Lottapianos · 19/02/2017 10:45

Ditto. I am both British and European. Absolutely nothing about being an EU citizen threatens your Britishness.

Doowappydoo · 19/02/2017 10:56

Ditto here as well. Very well put Lelly

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 19/02/2017 10:59

Good for you. I am a British citizen AND an EU citizen. I am angry that I will be stripped of my EU citizenship without my consent.

You see this is where it goes round in circles though because to play devil's advocate people would say they were made EU citizens without their consent and that the EU is not what was originally voted for all those years ago.