Blair going...soonish

Blair (pictured with Mrs T) is still keeping us all waiting with when he will actually go. Look n the bright side, not much longer , I'll put the bollie on ice.The trouble is the reality will be Prime Minister Brown.

In 1997 ,with onslaught of the Tories and the defeats of Labour, many were glad to see a vote winner such as Blair was at that time. It had to be better and perhaps he would be a little more left wing once in power.
I would argue it was better than the Tories ,but it was a wasted opportunity. New labour had a landslide and an electorate that was glad to see the back of the Tories and all their sleaze (oh the irony ). It was fertile ground for a soft left Government, not a watered down Thatcherite one, which is how it ended up.



Now back to Brown. He was an architect of New Labour and has been at the centre of its Government for the last ten years. He will not be better than Blair. He will not be a bit more left wing once in charge. It will be business as usual, minus the superficial charm.



Check out his interview in The Sun (Hat tip Susan) if you have a strong stomach .As the Sun points out :



In today’s Sun the PM-in-waiting publicly pledges never to dismantle Mr Blair’s New Labour project.



His article will delight Mr Blair, who is expected to announce his resignation next Thursday and is preparing to endorse his Chancellor for the leadership. Mr Brown praises the PM for:
LEADING the world in the fight against al-Qaeda; HIS handling of the death of Princess Diana; THE Ulster peace process; DELIVERING the London Olympics; SPEARHEADING the world’s fight against global warming and Aids.
But he goes out of his way to claim partial credit for many of Labour’s domestic policies. Mr Brown says together the pair have delivered more police officers and nurses, and taken a million pensioners out of poverty.
He shares the glory for ten years of uninterrupted economic growth.



Brown is not distancing himself. He was there with Blair at the birth of New labour and he will carry it on as PM. He is positioning himself as a partner in the direction the Government has taken in the last ten years.

He may not be a smarmy as Blair, but it will pretty much be business as usual.



Oh well, I'll drown my sorrows with the bollie.