Tony Blair On Screen...

I'm no fan of Tony Blair, and many of his policies have been disasterous (most notably, his obsession with going to war in Iraq). However, I'm getting a bit sick of seeing him portrayed in televsion shows as an effete idiot (we saw it most recently in the John Prescott comedy on ITV1). It's lazy, lazy writing, reflecting the writers personal prejudices, and is in no way an accurate portrait of the man himself. He's an intelligent, ruthless politician who completely outmanouvred his many enemies inside the Labour party. And even cockeyed policies like Iraq, he went into it with real heartfelt conviction. TV dramas should definitely be critical of him, but they'd be a lot more effective if they didn't constantly rely on lazy stereotypes that aren't even accurate.

You've got a point, but I don't think that it's quite as black and white. He's had a huge team of spin doctors, advisors and consultants around him orchestrating his moves. Look how it's all fallen apart since, say, Mandelson and Campbell left. He announced his own resignation almost a year in advance, and so has become even more of a joke, trying desperately to cling onto some kind of 'legacy' other than the mess in Iraq. If he personally was so skilled and ruthless then that would never have happened, surely?

The fact that these dramas don't show that side of things is another matter altogether.

I think the rather garbled views of the man are symptoms of an age where too much is thought, spent and said about public image, spin and what suits somebody's wife's wearing when really we just want them to lead the country.

The news nowadays has been through so many 'refiners' (or liars to use real English) that it's all more or less irrelevant by the time it gets to the ears of the great unwashed. I think we know less about the world at large now (in the age of the Information Superhighway) than the days when our grandparents talked about politics in pubs. The idea that we've information at our fingertips is a pacifier really.

None of that has much to do with this thread, but I feel better for having said it.

My point about him being skilled and ruthless refers to the fact that despite the fact his own party despises him, he's managed to stay leader of it for over ten years. Over which time he won three general elections with thumping great majorities. He's also provided the model which David Cameron is copying to the letter. I agree he's made himself a laughing stock by clinging to power, but in the words of Enoch Powell, all political careers end in failure.

"He's also provided the model which David Cameron is copying to the letter."

The line above: replace David Cameron with Tony Blair and replace He with Thatcher.

It's an old opposition trick, if you can't beat them, imitate them. Blair is now so much history repeating itself.

Quote: chipolata @ March 9, 2007, 10:13 AM

My point about him being skilled and ruthless refers to the fact that despite the fact his own party despises him, he's managed to stay leader of it for over ten years.

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Well, fair enough I suppose, but my personal opinion is that they realised that he's their only chance at any kind of influence or power. The electorate as a whole just aren't in tune with the true-Labour left-wing agenda.

And a very good point from SlagA about Blair and marvellous Maggie. It's notorious that she was the first person he invited to Number 10 on becoming PM.