AIBU to ask why Tony Blair is so unpopular?

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AIBU to ask why Tony Blair went from being fairly popular to being very unpopular?

I completely understand that factors such as the Iraq War have a huge part to play in why TB became unpopular, but would be interested to hear if there are also other reasons.

On a side-note, I'm quite impressed despite myself by the fact that he, as well as Alastair Campbell, is still in the media so muxh, despite the fact that they are so unpopular. The electorate and the media have lost a lot of respect for him and those close to him while he was in power, but we still can't seem to get enough of them in a way. It's odd

I was 5 when TB came to power and 15 when he left government, so it's so interesting to come back to it all now and think about his time in power from an adult perspective and with hindsight.

I am pretty sure that I don't misremember marching in London against the war.

Anyway, don't the early Bush/Blair memos show that B & B had decided on the war at a very early stage and that the WMD's were a bit of an afterthought, especially on the part of Blair who thought the war would need some selling to the British electorate?

From memory, most people were on favour of the war anyway, and only changed their minds when it became a shitstorm.

Because he went into an illegal war that cost so many lives including that of my dh colleagues. I hate him with a passion.

Tony's Blair's illegal war is why the current threat of terrorism is officially severe. His policies on EU movement are why we are currently being Brexited.

He ruined everything.

Most politicians make stupid decisions that can be reversed by a subsequent government. Tony Blair's idiocy has ruined this country permanently.

AIBU to ask why Tony Blair went from being fairly popular to being very unpopular?

Tony Blair and the 1997 election was the first General Election I was eligible to vote in age wise.
I remember a huge "New Labour" vibe, D"ream "Things Can Only Get Better" was the song playing everywhere and "their" song, presumably because of the years of Conservative rule there had been.
People bought into it. Did seem new and real.
Fall from grace I'd definitely say was the Iraq War and claims of WMD (weapons of mass destruction)

For those saying he's not a war criminal because parliament voted for war....this isn't how war works in the modern day.

If Theresa May doesn't like what happening in Catalonia and thinks it is a huge risk to the people of Spain, she can take a bill to parliament to go to war with Spain. If the majority of parliament vote for it, then we would be at war with Spain. So can we then happily start dropping bombs on Spain safe in the knowledge it's a nice legal war? No!!!

We should not just appear in a sovereign nation and drop bombs because parliament says so.

What if Germany thinks this about the UK? The Bundestag votes to bomb the UK because they fear for the mortal future of UK citizens following Brexit. They start bombing us....is that legal because the German parliament voted for it?

There is a distinct lack of knowledge on what our membership of the UN and seat on the security council means. The Iraq war has undermined our position on international relations for generations. Why should anyone else follow UN conventions and abide by it's raison d'etre when it has been demonstrated these do not apply to us?

Tripled house prices within 6 short years, ensuring both parents are now required to work to afford housing.

But it wasn't an illegal war. It had Cross party parliamentary and UN support. Hardly a one man decision.
People just don't like that war touched us through the media with dead and wounded soldiers- but that is why there is a military. Absolutely it's sad to see and hear about young people dying. They, however chose to serve our country. It is the reality of conflict.
Did it destabilise Middle East - possibly. It certainly gave many people hope of democracy but also fuelled the discontent that many felt for the polarised wealth in several countries and that may have led to extremism taking a grip. Although, in fairness, deaths from terrorism in UK are still at an all time low.

He certainly reduced terrorism in NI through GFA

He started a war.
He's a raging narcissist who won't shut the fuck up and go away.
He lied.
He governed only for the next days headlines. Truth was out. Spin was in. That has soiled all politics to this day.
He opened the immigration floodgates. No questions asked.
Nobody was allowed to say anything remotely unPC, sowing the seeds for rampant fundamentalism.
He did nothing for the traditional labour voting working classes.
They spent every cent we had.
How am I doing?

This list posted earlier by fc301 pretty much covers my reasons for hating him too.
Smarmy, duplicitous, narcissistic, elitist, war-mongering, lying twat of a man.

Where on esrth did you work for 60p an hr in the 90,s Alltheprettyseahorses

I’m interested too.

I worked a variety of different unskilled jobs from 1990 until 1995 until I settled into a long term career & the minimmum I got paid (aged 15, in 1990) was £1.50 an hour; mostly it was £2+ per hour with double/triple time at Xmas etc.

Sorry Alltheprettyseahorses, just seen the post where you explained the 60p an hour thing.
(Didn’t read all the thread before posting )

It's hysteria to be honest. Blair is not responsible for the fact that people listen to Boris Johnson. I would have quite liked corbyn to talk about Europe in the way Blair has lately.

The WMD lie

He drove this country into the ground and as we were crashing he handed over the reigns to Gordon Brown who was too stupid to know what was happening.

All the cuts we have to endure now are as a result of those two nitwits.

Started training nurses at home then brought in from abroad and then all newly trained nurses struggled to find jobs

Caused all the deficit problems the To ties are trying to fix

Also got rid of bursaries for private education

Crumbs everyone knows why we have a military but I'd hope when we're sending our sons, husbands and dads to die it could at the very least be for something not based on a lie.

Honestly Gordon Brown really really wasn't stupid. I don't think he was suited to bring a pm but it wasn't through lack of intelligence.

Honestly Gordon Brown really really wasn't stupid.

How many intelligent economists think that "no more boom and bust" is ever possible?
Gordon Brown might have thought that he was clever with stunts like PFI but it's us that's going to end up paying for it in the long term. It was merely a wheeze to move the problem on from his watch to somebody else's. It was all smoke and mirrors.

For not getting a single social house built under his watch.

Because he's a war criminal. And I am dyed in the wool lifelong labour

He is not a war criminal

www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/07/left-should-stop-calling-tony-blair-war-criminal-and-move

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/tony-blair-doesnt-need-to-apologise-for-the-iraq-war/

NuLabour created the housing crisis. House prices exploded during their watch and they didn't build many social homes and didn't stop Right to Buy. They also made Buy to Let popular. Blair now has a property empire which has made him a multi-millionaire. I hate NuLabour.

Threenme - absolutely and the civil servants who lied should have been held to account but Blair didn't actually lie he just believed them re WMD. He also recognised the genocide taking place in Iran and that led weight to the multinational decision to take action. It was never Blair declaring war - it was supported by a UN resolution. No war crimes. No crimes at all. An unpopular and expensive war but nothing compared to the losses suffered by a previous generation during the WW1.

When my son goes off he does so knowing full well the price others have paid. I hate it but he is an adult and chose his own path, so we will support in any way possible BUT recognising we have no redress were he to be injured during a conflict. It would be wonderful if there were no need of armies but that just isn't going to happen.