We're on air
The first editions of the papers are in and the Telegraph is predicting that Tony Bair is set to become a roving Ambassador to Africa and the Middle East after he leaves office. This - on the same day - that Downing Street tried, but didn't altogether succeed, in squashing stories that Mr Blair would leave Parliament and perhaps provoke a byelection soon after he leaves Number Ten.
Comments
I prefer the idea I read somewhere today (I thin it was Boris writing in the Telegraph) of making Blair our man in Baghdad.
Seemed more fitting somehow and he could keep us updated on how much safer Iraq is now it has terrorism and mass slaughter.
Nick, you can be live on ´óÏó´«Ã½1 and blog at the same time? I AM impressed!
And I thought that laptop was just for show...
Blair should disappear from public life. Ambassador to the Middle East is not a good option with the trouble he has assisted in stirring up in that area since he has been in power.
Charlie - me too!
hoping for interesting results. Plaid in Caerfili and Meirionydd
I agree with Boris that Blair should be our man in Baghdad - although unfortunatly I think the embassy is in the green zone isn't it?
You mean after his decade in Number 10, Mr Blair is not going to spend the last years of his political career serving his constituents of Sedgefield.
A shocked Sedgefield voter
I think it's such a shame Blair's going. I've found him a real inspiration. He defeated a Tory party that seemed impossible to get rid of and offered a workable balance between market and social forces. Those eager to see him go must remember they play a part in ushering in ten years of Tory rule. It is too easy to swipe at Blair.
What you've gotta consider is that the Tony Blair that defeated the tories in 1997 is a different Blair to what exists today. Likewise, the Labour party started off well, but followed the same path of Sleeze that the Tories did after they had been in power for a while.
More on topic...how much does Blair's indecision regarding stepping down affect the Local elections? There's so much lost trust (as Dimbo witnesses every Thursday) does that over rule local issues?
It's so important not to lose sight of how terrible ten years of Tory rule will be. Cameron and his allies are delighted every time Blair is undermined by his detractors.
Blair's social policy has helped create an underbelly of society that is too lazy to work but uses the benefit systems in order to fuel a life of cigarettes and alcohol. This underbelly also commit a disproportionate amount of crime within the UK.
Playing the devil's advocate, surely the Underbelly has been there (and will always be there) since the start of the welfare state? I'm not a Blairite by any means, but it's unfair to blame the government on some of the lazy members of society that have played the system all their lives and know how to pass themselves off as legitamate welfare recipient.
I am stunned at some bloggers continued support for Blair.. This Prime Minister has more blood on his hands and stain on his 'character' than any in the living memory... I was wrong on one thing - I thought he would need a chiropractor for all the kowtowing to Europe he would do... Never in my worst dreams did I imagine he would make us the US's poodle.
That is ever before you get to his wife/the flats/Mandelson x 3/dodgy dossiers/failed EU Budgets.. This list goes on. Good riddance and for god sake don't let him represent us anywhere in the world Baghdad is too good for him
Blair didn't end the Conservatives' period in office. They did it all by themselves.
I am also heart-sick at the number of MPs who, being spent forces in Westminster, then see themselves as fit to fulfil an international role. The chutzpah.