Tony Blair

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Doing the school stationery run with daughter today in WH Smith, saw plenty of copies of Tony Blair's memoirs, A Journey, out today. Did briefly consider buying it, TB being a politician who arises in me the sort of ire only Margaret Thatcher has previously (I am catholic in my loathing). I do enjoy a choleric splutter every now and then at something I know will infuriate me. Do not want, however, to encourage him to write more by increasing sales, so decided to borrow the library's copy, for which I feel I can wait, should there already be a long list of prospective borrowers. Adding a bit more to the library's borrowing figures will after all be a help.

I was struck though by a mention in the radio coverage earlier this week, of "a lengthy passage in which he expresses his regrets over the hunting ban, which he never really supported but which he found himself “trapped” into accepting. Most controversially, he says that he did his best to ensure that the ban was never properly policed." (The Times, Sept 01, 2010).

Oddly, this does not make me think what a decent chap TB, must, after all, be. If something is a free vote, as the vote on hunting was supposed to be, why not express one's opinion at the time, freely? And where on earth is the merit, the pat on the back, for enmeshing the judiciary and the police in an unworkable law?

Comments

Liz said…
I left the UK in 1995, and was pleased when Blair got in a couple of years later, because I really believed he'd make changes that I thought the country needed. The fact that he didn't make use of a large majority to just ban hunting full stop made me think he would be a huge disappointment. And he was. It's interesting to read his thinking at the time. Presumably he had similar feelings re. all those other laws he brought in that don't quite work in practice? Like the UK's silly smacking legislation where you sort of can, but sort of can't?

I do like reading political biographies, though, even if I don't agree with their views or policies when in office. I will probably read Tony Blair's.
2 September 2010 at 04:01
Jane Badger said…
Sort of can and sort of can't is about it, alas. I also find TB's assassination of Gordon Brown deeply unpleasant, and completely unnecessary.
2 September 2010 at 09:16
Anonymous said…
In the Andrew Marr interview, Tony Blair said it was probably true that he didn't understand the countryside and it was only later he realised there was more to hunting than 'a bunch of toffs chasing foxes'.
2 September 2010 at 09:29
Anonymous said…
Well yes, but whether or not Tony Blair understands much about hunting doesn't alter the fact that the RSPCA is (rightly, in my view) opposed to all forms of hunting with dogs. And I hope David Cameron has more sense than to go for a repeal of the ban.
8 August 2011 at 16:41
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