Tony Blair to resign on June 27th
Tony Blair has now set his resignation date as Britain's PM for June 27th at which point it appears Gordon Brown will take over as PM until at least the next election is held, probably in 2009. In terms of his legacy, I would give it mixed reviews.
On the domestic front, I think his legacy was generally a success. He took Labour Party away from its past socialists policies and adopted more centrist policies, not unlike the ones also adopted by Clinton in the United States and Chretien here in Canada. Socialism had failed miserably in Britain and if the Labour Party was to remain relevant it needed to modernize and Tony Blair did that. His policies were neither left nor right, but rather combined economic prosperity that the right champions and social justice that the left champions. More importantly his centrist stances forced the Conservatives to move towards the centre if they ever wanted to regain power, which is what they have done under their new leader David Cameron. Some of the highlights of his term include more money for the NHS and introducing a minimum wage. He also helped play a strong role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. Some of his questionable policies were his stance towards the Euro and on immigration. I personally support his stance on immigration since Britain has a natural declining population so they need more immigration in order to pay for the services as older British retire. The problem here is unlike Canada, where we are a nation of immigrants, Britain's history is not one based on immigration and therefore it has been an adjustment for some. On the Euro, he was attacked from both sides. Those supporting Britain joining the Euro argued he didn't take an aggressive enough stance in promoting the benefits of joining the Euro, while the Eurosceptics argued he was too supportive of greater integration in the European Union and should have instead demanded the EU return more sovereignty to Britain as well as flat out rule against Britain joining the Euro.
Off course for all the good things he did, his mistake on the Iraq War proved to be fatal and may very well turn what could have been one of Britain's best Prime-Ministers ever into a generally bad PM. While I don't think he was a bad PM, his mistake on Iraq was a big one and no doubt is part of the reason I have less respect for him than I did before. I cannot say for sure what motivated him to make the decision he did, but whatever benefits he thought might have come out of it never materialized. In addition while Britain and the United States have always enjoyed a special relationship, all friendships should have limits. No friendship between nations should require one nation blindly support another one. A real friend will tell the other one they are wrong. I also think Britain needs to re-think its role in both Europe and the Trans-Atlantic alliance. While I can understand some of the Eurosceptism, as the EU does involve giving up a lot of national sovereignty, I do believe that on foreign and defence policy, Britain should align itself more closely with Europe and less so with the United States.
In summary I would rate him as an average PM when everything is balanced out since he did some really good things, but also really bad things.
On the domestic front, I think his legacy was generally a success. He took Labour Party away from its past socialists policies and adopted more centrist policies, not unlike the ones also adopted by Clinton in the United States and Chretien here in Canada. Socialism had failed miserably in Britain and if the Labour Party was to remain relevant it needed to modernize and Tony Blair did that. His policies were neither left nor right, but rather combined economic prosperity that the right champions and social justice that the left champions. More importantly his centrist stances forced the Conservatives to move towards the centre if they ever wanted to regain power, which is what they have done under their new leader David Cameron. Some of the highlights of his term include more money for the NHS and introducing a minimum wage. He also helped play a strong role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. Some of his questionable policies were his stance towards the Euro and on immigration. I personally support his stance on immigration since Britain has a natural declining population so they need more immigration in order to pay for the services as older British retire. The problem here is unlike Canada, where we are a nation of immigrants, Britain's history is not one based on immigration and therefore it has been an adjustment for some. On the Euro, he was attacked from both sides. Those supporting Britain joining the Euro argued he didn't take an aggressive enough stance in promoting the benefits of joining the Euro, while the Eurosceptics argued he was too supportive of greater integration in the European Union and should have instead demanded the EU return more sovereignty to Britain as well as flat out rule against Britain joining the Euro.
Off course for all the good things he did, his mistake on the Iraq War proved to be fatal and may very well turn what could have been one of Britain's best Prime-Ministers ever into a generally bad PM. While I don't think he was a bad PM, his mistake on Iraq was a big one and no doubt is part of the reason I have less respect for him than I did before. I cannot say for sure what motivated him to make the decision he did, but whatever benefits he thought might have come out of it never materialized. In addition while Britain and the United States have always enjoyed a special relationship, all friendships should have limits. No friendship between nations should require one nation blindly support another one. A real friend will tell the other one they are wrong. I also think Britain needs to re-think its role in both Europe and the Trans-Atlantic alliance. While I can understand some of the Eurosceptism, as the EU does involve giving up a lot of national sovereignty, I do believe that on foreign and defence policy, Britain should align itself more closely with Europe and less so with the United States.
In summary I would rate him as an average PM when everything is balanced out since he did some really good things, but also really bad things.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 6:45 PM
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