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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand the Tony Blair hatred thing

325 replies

smashedinductionhob · 25/03/2017 16:00

I remember Tony Blair being very popular in his day and recall him doing reasonably good things.

I do remember very clearly the run up to the Iraq war and saying to my husband that I did not agree with it as there was no actual plan and the US public seemed to think Saddam Hussain was connected to 9/11 which he wasn't.

I remember passionate supporters of ethnic minorities in Iraq supporting him and only a few brave clever people like Obama calling it as a mistake.

I failed to demonstrate. The dossier was identified in Parliament (by a small minority) as dodgy before the war started but most of us went along with it.

It was clear to me at the time that the PM was supporting the US as a matter of principle (a lousy principle but fairly obvious).

How did we get from there to TB as hate figure? Is he just a scapegoat?

OP posts:
LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 25/03/2017 16:47

Perhaps try googling?

Moussemoose · 25/03/2017 16:47

Tulips he is a long, long way from being my ideal PM, but he wasn't as bad as any Tory. He is certainly no in thatcher's league if vileness.

The left really needs to stop finger pointing and shouting "splitter" and rally around someone who can regain power. Better a right wing labour party than a Tory. I hate it but it's true.

Ampersand22 · 25/03/2017 16:48

He is a war criminal because he lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction in order to murder millions of people to get access to oil and gold. If that's not a war criminal what is ffs

Original poster
smashedinductionhob · 25/03/2017 16:48

Livia, it's just that no one has said anything remotely persuasive and people seem to hate him for diametrically opposed reasons.

I had always thought the worst thing about him was the war decision. And this thread is reinforcing that belief.

That's what scapegoats are -the bucket we put our hate into.

OP posts:
kesstrel · 25/03/2017 16:50

he's the only Labour leader to win elections in the last 40 years

Naze I think you've put your finger on the real reason for the hatred from the many of the more left of the left. Grin They can't forgive him that.

Original poster
smashedinductionhob · 25/03/2017 16:50

Thanks for addressing the point directly Ampersand.

Do you hate him?
If so when did the hatred start?

OP posts:
LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 25/03/2017 16:51

Yes I am well aware of what a scapegoat is - thanks for explaining that Hmm

Why are you asking? You don't want to be persuaded, because you would look into it in detail if you genuinely didn't know

TinklyLittleLaugh · 25/03/2017 16:51

But the widening of university access was all about social mobility and about reskilling the population. And a massive amount of money was pumped into universities.

Unfortunately it led to a plethora of relatively worthless degrees. And the universities totally failed to compete on price, which is what had been anticipated. It still baffles me that people are happy to pay the same for Bolton as they would for Oxford.

Subsequent governments have totally failed to address these problems.

HumphreyCobblers · 25/03/2017 16:51

No one remembers Kosovo.

I am not that keen on Tony Blair myself, but people don't remember how he insisted on intervention and how many lives he saved. People named their babies after him.

It gave him a God complex and that is why he went into Iraq. He thought he was doing the same thing again.

How wrong was he....but I think well intentioned. The road to hell and all that.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 25/03/2017 16:51

Although I'm biased as he gives me the creeps, same as a PP.

Ampersand22 · 25/03/2017 16:52

smashed After I was hoodwinked into voting for the cunt the first time round, with his smile and smarm and Brit cultcha shite. In my defence I was 19. Never voted again. Went from socialist to libertarian to anarchist.

exLtEveDallas · 25/03/2017 16:52

He's not a war criminal. He (and his government) had the backing of the UN Security Council. Unless you hold them to account (and include all the leaders of the UN countries at that time, less Syria who abstained) as well as him, then he cannot be tried as such.

'War Criminal' is a soundbite and Blair is a scapegoat.

OhtoblazeswithElvira · 25/03/2017 16:53

Yanbu OP.

People forget how insanely popular Blair was, and what a positive place the UK was when he was in power. Then things started to go wrong for him -people would go on about how all the good economic results were down to solid, reliable, Gordon Brown only. GD couldn't do wrong for a few years! Then he became PM and became a hate figure. I can't keep up!

People haven't got over Tony Blair, he is still hated with a special foam-at-the-mouth quality that apparently doesn't apply to actual war criminals.

Yes he made mistakes but looking at the current House of Commons I wish we had someone of his calibre around!

armpitz · 25/03/2017 16:53

I don't hate any politician OP except Andy burnham but I feel his policies had a hugely detrimental effect on the country and still do.

HumphreyCobblers · 25/03/2017 16:54

Remember the sunny feeling of hope in 1997?

I have extremely clear memories of that day.

Ampersand22 · 25/03/2017 16:54

Oh the United Nations, bunch of cunts too. Scapegoat my fat arse.

OhtoblazeswithElvira · 25/03/2017 16:55

No one remembers Kosovo
And the Good Friday Agreements
don't mention Brexit

HumphreyCobblers · 25/03/2017 16:56

I am not saying anyone is wrong to condemn those in power. Of course they should if they think they are wrong.

But it is so very very easy when the decisions you are criticising are not yours to take.

Obama had a policy of non intervention and the world is a more dangerous place as a result.

I am so glad it is not my call.

Moussemoose · 25/03/2017 16:56

The left's fondness for self flagellation is one of the reasons the Labour Party is in the mess it is in.

Blair made some mistakes and wasn't as left wing as some wanted, but, I repeat, he wasn't thatcher. Hate her if you need a figure.

ZackyVengeance · 25/03/2017 16:56

I save all my hate for scameron

Original poster
smashedinductionhob · 25/03/2017 16:57

Thanks armpits. Your position seems completely reasonable and very far from the scapegoating.

OP posts:
birdsdestiny · 25/03/2017 16:58

He won 3 elections and actually made a difference to those living in poverty, that's why the Labour party hate him, they hate being in power and the responsibility and compromises that entails. They are much happier when they have no power and can moan about the right wing media. I say this as someone who has voted Labour for 20 years. I wish Blair was leading the Labour party now.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 25/03/2017 16:59

"War Criminal" is a term used by the Tory press that people have latched on to. Sadaam was no bloody Angel. Look at what he did to the Kurds.

Britain has always poked its nose in, always intervened. Any other Prime Minister at the time would have done what Blair did. Certainly any Tory Prime Minister. And any Labour leader to the left of Blair would be sadly unelectable, so never in the position to make that sort of call.

Ontopofthesunset · 25/03/2017 17:00

I think Tony Blair is this country's Hillary Clinton. It is an amazing victory of the right-wing press that they've managed so completely to convince so many people that the most successful recent left-of-centre prime minister is the devil incarnate.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 25/03/2017 17:00

Remember the sunny feeling of hope in 1997?

Nope - and I remember the period clearly Confused