Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Less Mea Culpa, More Je Ne Regrette Rien

Reaction to Tony Blair's self-justifying tome has been wearily predictable; what was always suspected, & sometimes expressed sotto voce, is largely confirmed in the book, particularly the working relationship with Gordon Brown.
Be that as it may, it's amusing to see at least one senior reporter, the BBC's Nick Robinson, deliver a terse mea culpa on his blog (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/09/blair_and_brown.html ).
It confirms my own suspicions about the pointlessness of having senior political reporters who can boast of having "access" to "sources" around Downing Street & Westminster when what they're fed simply doesn't tally with the reality.
Far more candid & refreshingly acerbic is Channel 4 News' Jon Snow who remarks (http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/blair-bares-all-in-memoirs/13532 ):
" 'Maddening' Gordon made him drink more than he should have. So if there are no extracts on his website (for me at least), at least there are his somewhat gaunt features to prove that this at least may have been true. He was 'right' to go to war. No apology for Iraq, but he writes that he will try to remedy the 'consequences' until the end of his days. Buy the book and you, too, can contribute to his efforts.
"All 'maddening' Gordon seems to have done, in Blair's book, is to have lost Labour a British general election. Even A Journey [the title of Blair's book] doesn't blame him for Iraq. Although if Gordon had been a bit more 'maddening', he might have done many tens of thousands who died, and millions who fled (and have still not returned) a great service."
Indeed, it's grotesquely ironic that the man Snow mischievously refers to as "our former dear leader" feels the need to apologise for the ban on fox-hunting, but not the carnage in Iraq (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/31/tony-blair-iraq-nightmare ).
Blair merely bleats that he didn't envisage the horrendous fall-out of riding on Bush's coat-tails.
Now that is "maddening".

2 comments:

Guillaume said...

Blair was not merely Bush's lapdog, he was his bitch. There is no reason to be polite.

David Swift said...

On the WMD 45 minute claims. This blatant "sexing-up" of information to deceive parliament should have led to Blair's removal. Whether or not Dr David Kelly committed suicide or was bumped off, the fact remains that he was forced to disclose the truth about WMD by leaks to the press. Clearly, he felt that openly revealing the truth was not an option.
That our political system allowed us to go to war on such misinformation is shameful. No matter that Blair is donating royalties to charity, he still has blood on his hands.