Tony Blair: return of the man?

[RogerThat]

Interesting to see Mr Blair wheeled out to encourage the party faithful. Interesting more still will be to see him used in the general campaign.

Tony Blair = toxic brand. What do you think?

[blackbike]

I don't regard him as toxic, just a normal politician.

I think the toxic tag mainly comes from the people who were daft and uncritical enough to think he really was something new, honest and different when he came to power in 1997, just because he said he was.

Blair can't be blamed for their naivety.

[RogerThat]

There was a motion put forward in 2012 by the Scottish government to change the law and have him tried as a war criminal in Scotland (he was born in Scotland after all). Many people regard his involvement in the Iraq war as a criminal act, and certainly toxic in political terms:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/co ... r.24526819

[blackbike]

There was a motion put forward in 2012 by the Scottish government to change the law and have him tried as a war criminal in Scotland (he was born in Scotland after all). Many people regard his involvement in the Iraq war as a criminal act, and certainly toxic in political terms:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/co ... r.24526819

Plenty of Scots voted Labour in 2005 and helped keep Blair as PM, and that was well after the start of the Iraq war.

Are they war criminals too?

[RogerThat]

I'm not aware that voting is a war crime? As for Blair I think it's a timely question: with a likely hung parliament and a Labour minority government propped up by the SNP, many of whose members regard TB as a war criminal, they may find it a bargaining point in exchange for support in other issues. I hope Mr Blair has his passport in order

[rualexander]

There was a motion put forward in 2012 by the Scottish government to change the law and have him tried as a war criminal in Scotland (he was born in Scotland after all). Many people regard his involvement in the Iraq war as a criminal act, and certainly toxic in political terms:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/co ... r.24526819

Not factually correct.
The motion was proposed by Margo MacDonald who was not a member of the government but an independent MSP.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/change-to- ... -1-2514633

[RogerThat]

Okay, Margo MacDonald a member of the Scottish Parliament. It's hairs on the head of a pin really is it not? It still got, and currently has strong support amongst Scottish MSPs.

[rualexander]

Okay, Margo MacDonald a member of the Scottish Parliament. It's hairs on the head of a pin really is it not? It still got, and currently has strong support amongst Scottish MSPs.

Quite a big difference between an independent MSP and the Scottish Government.

[Si]

Hey, it's an election, everyone and anyone will wheel out anyone who might given them an advantage. As for Blair, he'll soon be in the nostalgia category - people will remember how well off we were under him compared to immediately after him. Very few will care about the Iraq war as it didn't immediately effect them.....hell's teeth, Churchill is generally reckoned to be one of our greatest ever yet you could just as easily pick large holes in his record as you could Blair's.

I was just wandering the other day - If Maggie was still with us and in a position to become a media figure once more...who would roll her out....The Cons or the UKIPs? My guess....highest bidder

On the other hand, Major and Brown - free transfer.

[blackbike]

As for Blair, he'll soon be in the nostalgia category - people will remember how well off we were under him compared to immediately after him.

Not everyone had money thrown at them by New Labour. That was mainly the public sector.

The main things New Labour did for me was double council tax quite quickly, put up the TV licence by much more than inflation to keep the BBC on-message and end NHS dentistry in my area so I had to travel ten miles across the city to get it.

And I'm still paying for Blair's spending binge. It has recently emerged that my local council, which is shutting libraries and making other cuts while pleading poverty, still employs more people now than it did in 1997 when New Labour got in.

[RogerThat]

Major and Broon: you couldn't even give them away!!!

[Cunobelin]

There was a motion put forward in 2012 by the Scottish government to change the law and have him tried as a war criminal in Scotland (he was born in Scotland after all). Many people regard his involvement in the Iraq war as a criminal act, and certainly toxic in political terms:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/co ... r.24526819

Plenty of Scots voted Labour in 2005 and helped keep Blair as PM, and that was well after the start of the Iraq war.

Are they war criminals too?

Voting needs to be looked at "in scale"




When you look at figures it is quite revealing

John Major's Conservatives gained more actual votes at their last election then Tony Blair's NuLabour scored at their "landslide" return to power

[pete75]

When you look at figures it is quite revealing

John Major's Conservatives gained more actual votes at their last election then Tony Blair's NuLabour scored at their "landslide" return to power

Eh? John Major's Conservatives last election was against Labour in 1997. Labour had 43% of the vote and the Conservatives 30% that's a lot less not more.....

[Cunobelin]

When you look at figures it is quite revealing

John Major's Conservatives gained more actual votes at their last election then Tony Blair's NuLabour scored at their "landslide" return to power

Eh? John Major's Conservatives last election was against Labour in 1997. Labour had 43% of the vote and the Conservatives 30% that's a lot less not more.....

Reread the post....

[pete75]

When you look at figures it is quite revealing

John Major's Conservatives gained more actual votes at their last election then Tony Blair's NuLabour scored at their "landslide" return to power

Eh? John Major's Conservatives last election was against Labour in 1997. Labour had 43% of the vote and the Conservatives 30% that's a lot less not more.....

Reread the post....

I have done. The last election for the Conservatives under Major was in 1997 when they lost.
You need to go back to the 1951 general election to find the last time the losing party gained more votes than the winning one. The Labour party had almost 49% of the national vote and the Conservatives just under 48% yet they won 302 seats to Labour's 295.