The Tony Blair Story

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

Late night with dd - I’ve put it on in the background on +1

is anyone watching? 👀

Worse than that
He told the market he was going to offload it.

I remember when Labour won and how hopeful the world felt.

Thats when the rot started in this country when Blair got in, he should be in prison for war crimes. Vile man and his equally vile wife.

I thought it was absolutely fascinating.
1997 was radical. The introduction of the minimum wage, Sure Start, bigger budgets for schools and the NHS, but best of all, the Good Friday Agreement. I loved the anecdote about the Sinn Feinn leaders skateboarding with the Blair boys!

I've always found Alistair Campbell to be an interesting character as well.
The contributions from Robert Harris I found enlightening.

100%. I bought my first house in 97 and things seemed so good.

I think a lot of people forget about the first few years and how much was achieved. Blair will forever be blighted by the Iraq War. I'm looking forward to seeing what he says about it. I wonder if Dubya was interviewed.

I had graduated into the recession in the early 90s and it had been a Tory government since I was 11.
It felt like a proper sea change once Blair got in. We also got our first house not long after.

The difference in schools was incredible. We had our budgets significantly increased and it made a huge impact.

I think they handled it well, it was informative. No, W only appeared in contemporary footage.
Clinton does, though.

Same in the NHS. We had massive investment in cancer services, including the National Bowel Cancer Screening program. In order to get the screening up and running we needed lots of money for training, equipment and staff, it was all given. Waiting lists were cut dramatically particularly for cancer diagnostic tests, 2 week wait rule was introduced.

I’d forgotten all these things.
I remember sure start and that was amazing for me. Really helped with my post natal depression.

I work in education and things improved.

Starmer could learn a thing or two instead of focussing on small boats.

I remember we employed specialist teachers for students with additional needs, it was a game changer.
Our class sizes were cut and we got extra non contact periods. It was certainly a good time to be a teacher in a state school.

I’m not sure that Starmer is capable of the vision that Blair/Brown etc had. Even if he had a vision he definitely doesn’t seem to be able to focus on it and deliver it. He’s too easily distracted by populist politics like the small boats nonsense. It’s embarrassing that a Labour prime minister has tried to play to Reform supporters. I honestly don’t think he should have become Labour leader.

I think the Good Friday Agreement has been one of the most significant agreements in modern political history. Many of us thought that peace could never have been achieved.

It's a tricky one, isn't it? Bearing in mind the popularity of Reform, currently.

Blair didn't have to deal with most of the press being against him like Starmer does. He also didn't have the equivalent of Reform nipping at his ankles.

Very true. He was popular, and generally respected.
No social media, of course.

I can't comment politically, but on a personable level, I find Gordon Brown a decent man. I'm not sure about Tony Blair - always felt he was a bit smarmy.

This all gets lost when discussing Blair and the New Labour project. They changed Britain, for the better imo. There was a sense that anything was possible and no one was being left behind.

Some like to point to Labour causing the increase in immigration but forget that we needed the workforce for growth. It was coming anyway and the Cameron/Johnson governments subsequently did nothing to curb it.

But the Iraq War has tarnished much of what was achieved.

I disagree that Brown should have been leader. He has a brilliant mind and is a very decent man but Labour needed Blair’s charisma and relatability to middle england to win. Brown possibly could not have delivered that election.

I also agree that he and Cherie had hardened. I wonder whether the personal price they paid felt worth it

Starmer needs what someone last night referred to as Blair’s ‘tough bastards’

Hes a bit of a charisma vacuum but he needs better people around him.

Do you really think that any other Labour PM would have not backed the war? Of course they would have. As would a Tory PM - the Tories admitted it wouldn’t even have been a question of them not supporting the war.

The war was wrong but I’m not sure why people keep on and on with this trope that it happened because of Blair. It would have happened on anyone’s watch.

@Scenty Blair was certainly very charming, and he was able to connect with people effectively. Those shots of him with the public demonstrate his skills, even when berated about Iraq. I respect GB in many ways, but of course he was less personable.

Yes, that's what I meant about the lack of intellectual heft in MPs now. Where are the Claire Shorts, Robin Cooks, Mo Mowlams, Alistair Darlings etc? I think it's also interesting that a lot of the more impressive politicians seem to be Scottish.

That is interesting. They're certainly short of people with that kind of heft.
Also, maybe KS needs an Alistair Campbell!