Prime Minister Tony Blair recently announced that he will be stepping down as Prime Minister and Labour Party leader. Blair, whose record in office is noted for negotiating peace with Northern Ireland, and supporting the United States in multiple conflicts in the Middle East, has spent over ten years as Prime Minister. Blair has described himself as a social democrat and has raised taxes, introduced a minimum wage, tuition fees and strong identification card legislation in Parliament. In a brief speech, Blair stated “I may have been wrong. That’s your call,” regarding his support, after 9-11, of Afghanistan and later Iraq.
I think he was wrong, but then I guess it’s not my call, I’m not a British citizen. I liked Blair as an international leader, before Iraq, after he banned fox hunting, when he was very supportive of India's tsunami crisis, and when he had more of a focus on diplomacy as opposed to intervention. Blai enjoys reasonable popularity among the voters and members of the Labour Party. Blair's departure is the first of any British MP since the 1970s to be at a time of his choosing.
Blair’s political representative pointed out that Blair would continue to serve in the House of Commons in Parliament until the next expected election in 2009, unless he was given “a major international or United Nations job.” It’s interesting Blair thinks he’s qualified, but honestly out of the world’s current or recent leaders, I think Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac or even Bill Clinton would be better...all three have had a strong relationship with the UN and international community, and have been involved with several peace negotiations, some of which were successful.
I think he was wrong, but then I guess it’s not my call, I’m not a British citizen. I liked Blair as an international leader, before Iraq, after he banned fox hunting, when he was very supportive of India's tsunami crisis, and when he had more of a focus on diplomacy as opposed to intervention. Blai enjoys reasonable popularity among the voters and members of the Labour Party. Blair's departure is the first of any British MP since the 1970s to be at a time of his choosing.
Blair’s political representative pointed out that Blair would continue to serve in the House of Commons in Parliament until the next expected election in 2009, unless he was given “a major international or United Nations job.” It’s interesting Blair thinks he’s qualified, but honestly out of the world’s current or recent leaders, I think Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac or even Bill Clinton would be better...all three have had a strong relationship with the UN and international community, and have been involved with several peace negotiations, some of which were successful.
While Blair may say it's been long enough, it's clear to me that the bad situation in Iraq really pushed him to leave office of PM. US policy in Iraq probably won't change though. Blair has been a very close and fierce ally for President Bush (in addition Australian PM John Howard, of course). While you may think this would pressure him to change course in Iraq, Bush has never held high regard for international support of his foreign policy. That won't change now, even with Gordon Brown, the likely successor to Blair, who has a much more anti-Iraq point of view.
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