Criticism of Tony Blair

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Tony Blair.

The criticism of Tony Blair includes accusations of dishonesty and authoritarianism as well as suspicions about his alliance with U.S. President George W. Bush. While all people in the role of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom come in for some criticism, Tony Blair has faced particularly severe attacks because of the British involvement in the Iraq War.

[edit] Spin and alleged dishonesty

To engage in "spin" means to present news selectively so as to emphasise its positive aspects and minimise the risk of political damage from its negative aspects. While the terms "spin" and "spin doctor" came into widespread use in British politics as early as the late 1980s, they have been especially prominent in criticisms of the Blair government. A widely-levelled criticism of Blair and his subordinates is that they make use of spin to such an extent that government statements are now widely disbelieved even if they are entirely true. It is also claimed that the Government has on occasions crossed the line between selective presentation of information and deliberate misleading.

The most widely publicised example of this latter alleged failing concerned the two dossiers of intelligence information on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction that were published in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War - the September Dossier and the later so-called "Dodgy Dossier". Controversy surrounded both the contents of these documents and the way in which their contents were presented. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq, and Blair was later forced to concede that they had not existed.^[1] Blair's reputation for honesty and integrity, already damaged by allegations of excessive "spin", was dealt a major blow by the episode. His defenders argue that he sincerely believed before the war that the intelligence on Iraq's alleged WMDs was accurate; that such a belief was also held by the intelligence agencies of countries which opposed the war, such as France and Germany; and that the dossiers were not dishonest in their presentation of the intelligence evidence. The independent Butler Review subsequently cleared Blair of the charge of deliberate deception, but implied that the dossiers had contained some degree of exaggeration.

[edit] Authoritarianism

Blair has consistently supported the police and sought to increase police powers. While this policy initially attracted widespread support, the government's legislative response to the threat of militant Islamism has been regarded by some as authoritarian.^{[citation needed]}

Even before the 11 September attacks, the Terrorism Act 2000 had tightened up the existing law on terrorist activities.^[2] The Act also gave the police powers to act against a wide range of activities, and the legislation was reportedly used even against peaceful protestors. After 11 September, the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was passed, allowing foreign nationals to be detained without charge for an indefinite period, subject to appeal to a special tribunal, if they were suspected international terrorists and refused to be deported to their home countries (where, in some cases, they may be tortured or executed). This provision was later declared by the House of Lords, acting as the UK's highest court, to be incompatible with the Human Rights Act, and the Government replaced it, in the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, with provisions for "control orders" allowing terrorist suspects to be placed under house arrest, subject to some judicial oversight. These control orders have subsequently been declared by the courts to be incompatible with the Human Rights Act; the Government is seeking to appeal again to the House of Lords.

In 2005, Blair gave personal strong backing to proposals to allow suspected terrorists to be held for questioning for up to 90 days, and dissuaded other Ministers from offering a compromise. This insistence resulted in his first defeat on the floor of the House of Commons in November 2005.

The flagship anti-crime policy introduced in Blair's first term, Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), have been criticised as excessively punitive and as involving the criminalisation of non-criminal conduct: an ASBO may be imposed, using civil rather than criminal court procedures, to prevent conduct which is entirely legal, but breach of the ASBO itself is a criminal offence. Some apparently Draconian examples of ASBO restrictions have been cited: particular ASBOs have preventing their subjects from being sarcastic, from using the word "grass", and from attending a drug clinic which was treating them for their addiction. Opinion polls, however, show that ASBOs remain popular with the public, leading some to suggest that criticism of them comes mainly from middle-class people who do not regularly experience anti-social behaviour in their own communities.

The Identity Cards Act 2006 enabled the Government to introduce national identity cards, and authorised the creation of a National Identity Register on Britain's citizens. Critics of ID cards argue that the Register has disturbing implications for privacy and civil liberties, and that they could be used to deny access to public services. ^[3]

The Government has maintained that ID cards will provide a crucial weapon in the fight against crime and terrorism but has not yet offered evidence to back up these claims.

[edit] Relationship with President George W. Bush

George W. Bush and Tony Blair shake hands after their press conference in the East Room of the White House on 12 November 2004.

Along with enjoying a close relationship with Bill Clinton during the latter's time in office, Blair has formed a strong political alliance with President George W. Bush of the United States of America, particularly in the area of foreign policy: at one point, Nelson Mandela described Blair as "the US foreign minister".^[4] For his part, President Bush has lauded Blair and the UK many times: in his post-September 11 speech, for example, he stated that "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".^[5]

The alliance between Bush and Blair has seriously damaged Blair's standing in the eyes of many British people, particularly those on the traditional Left.^{[citation needed]}

U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes Prime Minister Tony Blair back to the Oval Office in the White House for private discussions regarding the Middle East Crisis involving Israel and Lebanon in 2006.

Blair's prompt appearance in Washington after the 11 September 2001 attacks seems to have played a part in establishing mutual respect between the two leaders. Prior to the Iraq War, Blair wished to obtain a second UN resolution (following Security Council Resolution 1441) authorizing an invasion of Iraq, but ultimately decided to accompany America to war after the resolution proved impossible to obtain. Critics argue that this support provided the fig-leaf of an international coalition as well as military support which US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed barely to need. Writing in 2005, the former UK ambassador to the USA, Sir Christopher Meyer, accused Blair of being a hawk and of having been insufficiently cautious about the war ^[6]. Meyer claimed Blair could have prevented the war if he had acted at an opportune time in the summer of 2002, though prominent journalist Simon Jenkins has criticised Meyer's claims as 'naive'. ^[7]

An article in the May 2004 issue of Vanity Fair (which Paul Wolfowitz claims includes partial and incorrect quotes) reported that Meyer was present when, a few days after the September 11 attacks, Bush asked Blair to support an attack on Iraq. Blair reportedly replied that he would rather concentrate on ousting the Taliban and restoring peace in Afghanistan. According to Meyer, Bush replied: "I agree with you Tony. We must deal with this first. But when we have dealt with Afghanistan, we must come back to Iraq." Meyer reports that Blair "said nothing to demur".

In July 2003, Blair became the first Briton since Winston Churchill to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, a honour awarded by the US Congress and considered to be the United States' highest expression of appreciation.^[8] This honour aroused some controversy in the UK, and, probably because of this, as of August 2005, Blair had yet to collect the actual medal, ^[9] though he had already formally accepted the award.^[10]

Blair's emphasis on Britain's "special relationship" with the USA is not unique to him: a desire to maintain close ties with the United States has characterised British foreign policy since the time of Churchill and Roosevelt. As to Blair's influence over US policy, it has been claimed, with uncertain accuracy, that it was Blair who persuaded Bush to devote interest to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to endorse a two-state solution to that conflict, and to attempt to obtain a second UN resolution prior to the Iraq War.

Blair does not reveal his thoughts about the Bush administration: he has described Guantanamo only as "an anomaly" which should be resolved "sooner rather than later". When pressed in a 4 March 2006 interview with Michael Parkinson ^[11], he would say only that George Bush is someone with whom he can work with because "he does what he says".

A private conversation between Blair and Bush at the 2006 G8 summit in St Petersburg was accidentally picked up by an open microphone. Transcripts of the conversation appeared to show, among other things, that Blair's offer to visit the Middle East as a mediator in the latest conflict was snubbed by Bush, who preferred to send US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice instead.^{[12] [13]} There was also considerable comment made in the UK press over the tone of Bush's greeting of "Yo, Blair".^[14]

[edit] Alleged presidentialism

Blair is perceived by many as an excessively autocratic leader: it is claimed that he pays insufficient attention both to the views of his own Cabinet colleagues and to those of the House of Commons as a whole. His style is sometimes said to resemble that of a president and head of state rather than that of a prime minister in a parliamentary system of government.^[15]

By his own admission, Blair has never taken a vote on any issue among his Cabinet colleagues (though his predecessors reportedly did not take formal votes in Cabinet either), and the satirical magazine Private Eye reported in July 2006 that, when the newly-appointed Defence Secretary Des Browne openly disagreed with Blair at his first Cabinet meeting, colleagues reacted with shock and passed him notes asking what he thought he was doing. (Such a report may, of course, be exaggerated, or even entirely false.) As to his attitude towards Parliament, Blair has been criticised for his poor voting and attendance record in the House of Commons, and for his alleged general lack of respect for the legislature.

On the other hand, it is not clear that the electorate would prefer a less "presidential" prime minister: Blair's Conservative predecessor, John Major, was widely derided as being ineffectual. Blair's personal Parliamentary voting and attendance record may be explained, at least in part, by the heavy demands upon the time of any Prime Minister, and by the unusually large Labour majorities from 1997 to 2005 that meant in practice that his vote was rarely needed.

[edit] His departure

Blair's apparent refusal to set a date for his departure has been criticised by the British press and members of parliament. It has been reported that a number of cabinet ministers believed that Blair's timely departure from office would be required to be able to win a fourth election. ^[16] Some ministers viewed Blair's announcement of policy initiatives in September 2006 as an attempt to draw attention away from these issues. ^[16]

Upon his return from his holiday in the West Indies he announced that all the speculation about his leaving must stop. This stirred not only his traditional critics but also traditional party loyalists.

A letter demanding he should resign 'sooner rather than later' was circulated and on 6 September a rash of resignations of Parliamentary Private Secretaries increased the pressure on Blair to resign now or name a timetable for a handover.

The Sun newspaper predicted on its front page that Blair would stand down on 31 May 2007, but Number 10 insisted it did not leak the date to the newspaper and that it would not give a "running commentary on dates". However, political pressure widely acknowledged as being weilded on behalf of Chancellor Gordon Brown quickly forced Blair into publicly accepting for the first time that the upcoming TUC and Labour Party conferences of 2006 would be his last as Prime Minister. Although in theory this would give Blair until September 2007 to resign as Prime Minister, the consensus of seasoned commentators was that The Sun's prediction represented the latest date until which Balir could realistically hang on.

[edit] Criticism by the left

While the Blair government has introduced some social policies seen by the left of the Labour Party as progressive, such as the minimum wage and measures to reduce child poverty, Blair is seen, on economic and management issues, as being to the right of the bulk of the party. A possible comparison may be made with Al Gore, Joe Lieberman and other American Democrats, who have been accused by their party's "base" of selling out to conservative ideology. Some critics describe Blair as a reconstructed Conservative or Thatcherite. He is occasionally described as "Son of Thatcher", though Lady Thatcher herself rejected this identification in an interview with ITV1 on the night of the 2005 election, claiming that the resemblances were superficial.

Many of Blair's policies have been criticised by MPs on the left and/or the centre of the Labour Party. One example is the use of private capital to fund public projects (under the Private Finance Initiative, for example). This, it is claimed, both represents a bad deal for taxpayers and involves the privatisation of public service ^[17]. Another policy which has attracted criticism is the introduction of independent Trust Schools ^[18], which have been likened to the Major government's Grant Maintained Schools, which Labour criticised while in opposition. This comparison was rejected by the Government, but the passage of the relevant Education Bill through Parliament has been dogged by controversy: it passed its second reading in the House of Commons only with the aid of Conservative votes.

Private Eye cover speculating on a Gordon Brown leadership challenge

[edit] Satire

Blair has avoided the traditional pigeonholes of British political leaders. He has often (particularly after the invasion of Iraq) been labelled as insincere ("King of Spin", "Phoney Tony"), and has been accused of cronyism due to his perceived penchant for promoting his friends to top jobs. In his early years, Blair was often criticised as an unscrupulous opportunist who was solely interested in doing anything that would get him elected, that he was a focus group politician. More recently, his unpopular support of the United States over Iraq has demonstrated a politician with more commitment to his own beliefs, despite public opposition. His name has been deliberately mis-spelt 'Tony Bliar' (sometimes 'B. Liar') or 'Tory Blur' by critics of his actions and his policies (particularly his stance on Iraq). The Economist on 5 June 2003 devoted its front cover to a photograph of Blair and the headline, "Bliar?".

Since Blair became Prime Minister, Private Eye has run a regular feature called the St Albion Parish News based on the Blair government. In this series, the parish incumbent ('Rev. A.R.P. Blair MA (Oxon)') combines a relentless trendiness with a tendency to moralise and to exclude all those who criticise him. The series highlights Blair's perceived penchant for spin and his zealous enthusiasms in relation to recent political events.

In his first term of office, Blair was the subject of a satirical comic strip Dan Blair in The Times. This strip spoofed the comic book hero Dan Dare and his nemesis, the Mekon, who represented William Hague in the strip, portrayed with a very large forehead. He has also been parodied in the comic 2000 AD in the series B.L.A.I.R. 1 (a spoof of the old-fashioned strip M.A.C.H.1 written by David Bishop) where he acts as a futuristic crime fighter controlled by an artificial intelligence known as "Doctor Spin".

In opposition under John Smith, the ITV satirical puppet show Spitting Image depicted Blair within the Shadow Cabinet as a schoolboy with a high-pitched voice and bottle-green uniform, complete with cap. The first show after Smith's death featured Blair singing "I'm going to be the leader! I'm going to be the leader!" over and over. Once settled in as leader, the programme, which was in its last years, changed its caricature of Blair to have a small face with an outsized toothy grin. The show ended before Labour gained power.

The British pop band The Pet Shop Boys released a single in May of 2006 called "I'm with Stupid," which criticises the relationship between Blair and George W. Bush.

In an Any Questions? debate on Radio 4 broadcast from Altrincham on September 29, 2006, the writer and commentator Will Self, answering a question on whether Tony Blair should leave office, said:

"I view him as the kind of air guitarist of political rhetoric. I don't think he's debased political debate because he lies, I actually sadly think he believes a lot of what he says, that's what's so depressing about it, for people who stand outside of politics. So my rather bizarre viewpoint - should he go? - it feels like he left a long time ago, leaving this Tony Blair shaped hole that carries on talking."^[19]

Self's comments were met with rapturous applause from the audience.

[edit] References