Tony Blair used to be my idol. I was a card-carrying New Labour evangelist who promoted “traditional values in a modern setting” throughout the 1990s. In stark contrast to Westminster custom, Tony had taken to wearing a fawn-colored suit, so I once bought one for him.
It hurts me to say this, therefore. However, it is evident that my hero has gone absolutely insane after reading his 5,000-word essay, which some political watchers have regarded with awe and devotion equal to Moses presenting the tablets from Mount Sinai.
They claim that repeatedly doing the same action while anticipating a different outcome is the definition of lunacy. However, the main issue with Blair’s solution to the nation’s problems isn’t that he genuinely anticipates a better result from the previous failed policies.
He simply doesn’t give a damn. He will gladly make the case as long as they support his personal beliefs, or perhaps more importantly, the beliefs of those who are donating millions of dollars to the Tony Blair Institute.
I was eager to see how he would respond to the pivotal events of that era after learning that he had written his masterpiece refuting the accusation that the country had been headed in the wrong direction for forty years. Iraq. The Banking Boom. Brexit. unrestrained immigration. the depletion of entire areas and communities.
Blair took a straightforward approach to dealing with them. by acting as though they never occurred. Examine the section pertaining to US relations. Obviously, there is no humility. or regret. Or even a simple admission that his disastrous Iraq expedition was the biggest failure of British foreign policy since the war and did more than anything to undermine the Special Relationship’s standing in the eyes of the British public and the rest of the world.
Rather, he uses an analogy. He says we should all imagine Donald Trump as a bus driver facing a brick wall. The majority of leaders would stop and consider how to overcome the obstacle. Not Trump.
He accelerates after spotting the brick wall while driving down the street. Yes, there are pieces flying off the bus, there is some damage and debris, and the passengers are feeling a little queasy, but fortunately, he’s through the wall,” Blair says with admiration.
Dan Hodges comments, “It truly hurts to say this, but after reading his 5,000-word essay, it’s clear my hero Sir Tony Blair has completely lost his mind.”
And in the face of this obviously insane driver, what should Britain do? Blair says, “Jump right on board.” Because “America remains the indispensable core of Britain’s security alliance,” as he put it. However, sticking with it entails doing so even when it is challenging or unpopular.
Blair stated in 2002 that in order for Britain to keep up with the US, it would have to pay “the blood price.”
And he still believes it twenty-five years later, in spite of the destruction, confusion, and instability Iraq unleashed.
He takes an equally naive stance toward Europe. Once more, no effort is made to address the fundamental reasons why the British public, many of whom had first trusted him with their ballots, chose to reject the pro-European fervor that typified his tenure as prime minister. Rather, he merely says, “Britain has lost from Brexit,” dismissing the decision to leave.
However, he then creates a dream scenario in which Britain re-enters the EU on our terms.
He maintains that “any structured relationship will require a negotiation, and that negotiation will have to be from strength and not from weakness.”
Since the start of the Brexit debate, radicals from both sides have been pursuing this illusion.
“Europe needs us more than we need Europe” is a myth. It is completely unfounded in reality. “If you won’t accept free movement, don’t bother to pick up the phone” will be the beginning, middle, and finish of any major renegotiation in Brussels.
Donald Trump, President of the United States.Blair stated in 2002 that in order to keep up with America, Britain should pay “the blood price.”
Blair, however, is unable to accept this fact. He would have to face another taboo in order to accomplish this. Right now, immigration is the most important political issue. Again, he seldom mentions it.
He suppressed the wages of millions of working people by using unrestricted migration as a direct tool to control inflation.
Consider how this ultimately squandered the actual GDP gains his government was able to win, directing them into ever-tinier wealth enclaves. Concurrently, this has caused a sense of cultural, social, and economic estrangement that has nearly split Britain in two.
There is nothing on all of this. Except for a humiliated quiet.
Shortly after reading Blair’s encyclical, I had a conversation with a former assistant who, like me, had been a full-time member of the New Labour fan club.
“Tony’s skill used to be his ability to judge the mood of the British people,” he stated. And that’s no longer there. He flies around on his affluent clients’ private jets and spends all of his time with them.
“He no longer has the slightest idea of what regular people are thinking.” I’m not sure how frequently Tony Blair has visited his former seat in Sedgefield, County Durham, since leaving office.
I’ve been a few times. And to numerous other regions of the nation that stood in for the renowned Red Wall that kept him in power.
However, he would hear this if he did take a vacation from traveling the world and interacting with the tech bros and neo-cons that support his beloved institute.
People are tired of the current situation. They’ve had enough of being assured that if they just quiet up and take their medication, the previously unsuccessful prescriptions will actually work this time.
Additionally, they want no more dissertations or lectures from members of the elite who view them as nothing more than marks in their most recent international shell game.
The issue with the major architect of New Labour is that, upon examining his self-justifying dissertation, it becomes clear that he has nothing original to contribute.
Asserting that unchecked globalization was the only option, he resigned from his position. And since it has been debunked, his new catchphrase is that unrestricted automation is the only option.
Blair famously informed Britain’s working class that their only option was to watch helplessly while immigrants took their jobs. It’s the machines this time.
He declares that AI is the future. It needs to be unrestricted by major regulations and permitted to ripen. And anyone who objects is either a Communist or a Luddite, or worse, Andy Burnham.
In his first speech as prime minister following his election in 1997, Tony Blair stated, “This is not a mandate for dogma or for doctrine, or for a return to the past.” Sadly, all that remains of my former hero is dogma, theory, and a yearning for the past.
