Mr Blair wants the election debate to move on from Iraq and his integrity?   Do he still have any?

If any one ever want to know why British politicians are currently grovelling in the mire at the bottom of the popularity league one has only to look at the premiership of that recidivist liar Tony Blair now known to all by the soubriquet Bliar.

There is absolutely no evidence that our Prime Minister, Anthony Blair, is a crook.  In fact, there is something to say for the fact that he may not be clever enough, not even being able to run his own financial affairs efficiently.   

First he sold his family house at the bottom of a rising market when he became Prime Minister, then he and his wife bungled again when they bought two flats for their student son with the help of a convicted fraudster - again at a high price and sold them at a loss.  The latest financial catastrophe for the Blairs was the purchase of  a £3.25 million house in a swanky part of London just before the market collapsed.   They have been left with a house they cannot afford the mortgage on and cannot let and which is worth far less than when they bought it.

His record

But, though he may be inept at handling his personal finances what is his record as a Prime Minister?   Pretty dismal, is the answer to that.   In fact Blair is, far and away, the worst holder of that high office this country may well have ever had.

The most obvious criticism which comes to mind is that he is a proven and accepted liar over his machinations in taking this country to war with Iraq.  That, in itself, should disqualify him from office but Blair with his almost impregnable Commons majority and undoubted arrogance managed to fix his way out of that by instituting an "Enquiry" under terms which he carefully arranged could never reach a true conclusion.   The Hutton enquiry was commonly accepted to be a whitewash for Blair.   It was convened to look into the cause of the hounding to death of  senior weapons (of mass destruction) inspector Kelly who dared "leak" against Blair's policies.

Blair frightened the population with untrue stories about weapons of mass destruction being ready to strike  within 45 minutes although he knew the stories were untrue. Kelly argued against this but WMDs were Blair's given reason for war.   The likelihood is, however, that war had been agreed with the Americans many months before.    The damage those lies have done and the lives cost is well known and will not be rehearsed here.

In getting his way, the Prime Minister held cosy, off-the-record meetings, distorted legal opinions, pressurised key figures and falsified reports.  When caught out on the details he professed not to have been informed of the matter in question.  Anybody to blame but not him.   More lying or just incompetence?

Small wonder he has let it be known that he wants to "move on" from Iraq.   Too right, he does!

Moving on
Anyway, let us allow him to do so and examine other matters.

Blair is a dangerously incompetent, or perhaps deliberate, wrecker of British Society. 

He introduced a postal voting system into the Local Authority elections which a High Court judge, trying a group of Labour councillors, recently said would be "a disgrace to a banana republic", so easy was it to corrupt.  He was told of its corruptibility and openness to fraud a year ago yet he has delayed long enough to ensure that next month's General Election must use this corrupt system.  The judge said that the Birmingham elections were rife with fraud.    And Blair does nothing because they were Labour councillors and Labour will gain by the corruption.

Immediately after coming to office he set about reforming the House of Lords to make it more accountable rather than the home of hereditary peers. The system had worked well for several hundreds of years but, no matter, Blair was intent on reform.  Seven years on the ruins are still smouldering and still nothing efficient has been put in its place.   The PM hadn't a clue of what he was going to replace it with, so it is left as a part hereditary and part appointed House fairly well stuffed with Blairite followers - equally unelected.   Blair favours a wholly appointed House.  You bet he does!

Even the law has become more dangerous to the citizen.   Jury trial has been abolished for some cases and, even worse, last week his ex-Marxist Home Secretary, vigorously defended by Blair, attempted to enact a Bill which would allow that Home Secretary, a politician, to ignore the law and to throw any citizen in jail he did not like, without trial and indefinitely without habeus corpus being permitted.    This was an anti-terrorist measure, they claimed, but, horrifyingly, it would be Blair's government which would be able to claim that even the writer of this piece could be jailed if Blair or Clarke so wished.   So much for 1000 years of British freedoms.   Has Clarke forgotten his previous political leanings, one has to wonder?

The Opposition parties put up a stout defence and demanded, amongst other things, a self-destruct "sunset Clause" which would ensure that after a period of months the Bill would automatically fall off the record book rather than be a permanent part of British Law.   This was to allow time for the devising of a better terrorist law whilst protecting civil liberties.

Blair immediately claimed that the security services had said that such a clause would damage the bill and encourage terrorists.  Another lie which a number of his own cabinet ministers failed to support.  Yet he asked us to trust him - again.

Meantime, once again, Blair and his spinners cranked up the fear of terror in their own ends.

Even the fabric of the family has not been left untouched.  Under the Blair government it is financially more sound to live in sin than to be married.  Tax credits to the unmarried mean that all income above the national average is worth 70% more to them than to the married family with two children.

Fortunately that Bill was watered down - for now. 

Then there are the changes to the licensing laws which now allow licensed premises to stay open 24 hours a day.  Blair says this will prevent "binge drinking" in the young.    This measure followed the disastrous down-grading of cannabis use which has allowed the spread of this drug and its sequelae.  This, too, was supposed to decrease it useage.

Other policies
And what about those home-grown Irish terrorists?   Blair has appeased and appeased until there's nothing more he can give.  He's let all the murderers out of jail and allowed the IRA to keep its full arsenal of weapons so that the killing still goes on.

Another notable feature of Blair's tenure has been his enjoyment of strutting the world, smile to the ready, as a major player.   No more so than in his passion for Africa.   Whilst entreating the West to provide more and more for the poorer African countries his very own policies are disgracefully denuding those same countries of their doctors, nurses and teachers in a vain hope to prop up the system where his domestic policies have discouraged home-grown professionals from remaining in the professions longer than they absolutely must.

Talking of which, successive Blairite ministers have so defeated morale  in the medical profession that recruitment continues to decline and retirements to escalate.

Despite there being no mention of it in the previous election manifesto his government has introduced swingeing fees for higher education and ensured that all students who graduate are saddled with an enormous debt to pay off.

The police force is so busy carrying out an increased administrative burden that, like headmasters, they are unable to keep up with it and do their front line job.  Only this week the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire became so exasperated with government policy that he told the world his force was no longer able to investigate murders and other serious crimes.   They would have to be "farmed out" to neighbouring forces.

He was promptly attacked, in the customary government fashion, for intervening in an anti-government way in a pre-election period.  The one mistake there is that although the PM is stomping into one television studio after another to electioneer, he has yet to announce the date of the next General Election.   Until he does no assumption can be made of when he will.

The tax burden for the population has increased vastly under his government, mostly by hidden taxes.  That despite a promise before the last Election not to increase taxes.    Trust me, he says.

Millions of retired workers trusted him to their detriment as his policies shredded their pensions.  Private companies can no longer afford to pension new employees and have reduced the value of current pensions.  Government employees are unilaterally having their retirement age increased from 60 to 65.  Making them work longer and have less pension.

Then Europe, where, following the example of Tory Edward Heath several decades ago, he has lied and deceived about his own intentions for the country.   Blair wants a federal Europe but refuses to openly admit it.

And so it goes on and still he smiles.

Personal
Tony Blair is a vain man and an accomplished actor.  He will not be forgotten for his many attempts muscle in on the Queen, notably on her Jubilee and at the time of the Queen Mother's funeral.   There he and his wife were glad-handing the throng, leaving the Queen standing.   That is nothing less than pig-ignorance.

At Diana, Princess of Wales' death, and on many subsequent photo-opportunities, there was Blair with some well-rehearsed speech expressing suitably popular sentiments.    Always ready with his spiv's smile.

And the whole world is amused by the Blairs' unprincipalled enjoyment of "freebie" holidays at some rich person's expense several times a year and their puffed up arrogance in using the Royal Flight to arrive at their destination.  Not to mention Mrs Blair's love of free gifts from all and sundry and her enjoyment of being the country's "first lady" even though that honour belongs to a far greater person than she, the Queen.

When caught out, some years ago, Tony Blair told the world that he was "a pretty regular sort of chap".  Events have proved otherwise.

Is this a man fit to represent one of the greatest world nations?   The electorate will decide but beware of the Blairite spin factory which will continue to dissemble and lie to ensure his vanity is satisfied for a third term.

Blair plunders Africa

(6/4/05)