The long goodbye
As long expected, Tony Blair today finally announced his intended resignation as Leader of the Labour Party and therefore as Prime Minister of the Labour Government after 13 years as Leader and 10 years as PM. You can read his announcement here.
During the day, I’ve been listening to extracts from his speech on the radio and this evening I’ve been watching the BBC and ITV news assessments of his decade at No 10.
I’ve heard Tony Blair speak on quite a few occasions and he is a very effective communicator. I’ve actually met him several times and he is a man of genuine charisma. I believe him to be a fundamentally decent and honourable man and, even over Iraq, I believe that he did not deceive the country so much as deceive himself.
It is far too soon to make a rounded assessment of his legacy, but undoubtedly the economic stabilty, the improvements in public services, the constitutional changes, and the attack on world poverty will come to weigh more heavily as the immediacy of the Iraq debacle starts to fade – which is not now and may be some time away.
What will never be in doubt is that his taking of the Labour Party to three successive General Election victories, each with substantial majorities, is utterly unprecedented and has fundamentally changed the nature of British politics for the better.