So there we were. A bunch of tired, stressed out postgrads, taking shelter in the real world over lunch. The conversation, as happens fairly regularly, turned to politics. There was some David Cameron kicking, some Bill Clinton reminiscing. Then He comes up. Tony Blair. Immediately, it is obvious we're not going to reach an agreement on Him. I had a go. I almost came out of it alive.
But why? For left of centre people, Blair should surely be a hero. He led the Labour Party to three general election victories, the first two of them Earth-shattering landslides the like of which Britain hadn't seen for decades. His government was the 'brave new dawn,' after eighteen years of darkest night under Mrs Thatcher and John Major. For those on the right, Blair was the only Labour leader many of them trusted to run the country, largely as he cleverly sidestepped all that socialist nonsense of his predecessors. Something for everyone to like.
And yet... Blair appears to inspire hatred and admiration in almost equal measure, despite nearly half a decade out of office.
So, I decided to compile a balance sheet. Now, obviously this will be heavily biased by my own views, but I've attempted to be impartial and take the long view. After all, I am a historian. I've given Mr Blair marks on a scale from -10 to 10, for a variety of things he usually gets credit or blame for. Starting from zero, lets see where he ends up:
The Good Friday Agreement= +15 Ok, so I know I said scores were out of ten, but this, above all else, gets him praise from even those who detest Tony Blair with all their heart and soul. Yes, it wasn't the end. It wasn't even the beginning of the end. But it was, to paraphrase Churchill, the end of the beginning.
The National Minimum Wage= +9 As someone who all through Sixth Form was paid £3.82 (the second worst paid person in my school year!) the leap to £5.56 on my 18th was the best feeling in the world. How people suggested in 1997 that it wasn't a good idea is completely beyond me, and always will be.
Human Rights Act= +7 Much moaned about ever since by those who decry our subservience to Brussels bureaucrats, this legislation ensured Britain will never reintroduce the death penalty without first having to leave the EU. All the arguing over EU law aside, that is a Good Thing.
Greater Public Spending= +6 Having fallen to dismal levels under the Tories, Britain's public services in 1997 badly needed the money. Eventually, they got it. However, perceptions of excess and waste ingrained themselves in people's minds.
Freedom of Information Act= +5 Ok, not as good as many would like, but better than nothing.
Africa= +4 Remember Gleneagles, Make Poverty History, Live8? Blair was part of that drive, even if the agenda has now been sidelined since the onset of the crash.
Fox Hunting Ban= +4 Outside animal rights lobbyist groups, this served no purpose to the vast majority of the British public. But it was worth watching Labour introduce it; even as a teenager with few firm political opinions, I could tell the upper classes were annoyed, and that was fine by me.
Tax Credits= +3 Overall, a good thing. As a targeted measure to get people out of poverty, a brilliant idea. And less obviously 'redistribution of wealth', so they passed with Middle England's approval. The problem was, they came to be seen as a waste of money, and to be encouraging people not to work. Maybe a disclaimer at the bottom would have helped?
Windfall Tax= +2 An extra, one-off tax imposed on corporations which had made huge profits at public expense, the income of said tax being used to reduce unemployment. Can't think of any contemporary parallels at all... The reason its so low here is the fact it was never repeated!
Devolution= +1 Although not having affected me directly, this is one of the lasting legacies of the Blair years, and one which is here to stay. The small worry of it being used as a vehicle to breakup the UK, plus the unresolved West Lothian Question if Scotland does stay in, do drag the score down a little.
Pro-EU Foreign Policy= +1 I personally think was great. Not everyone agreed. Plus it was rather shot in the foot a little by splitting the EU over Iraq, but hey, can't win them all!
House of Lords Reform= +1 Well, a start is better than nothing...
Total Positive Score= 58
Cash for Honours= -3 Left a nasty running sore for Labour. More here as a representation of Blair's hobnobbing with big business.
Economy= -4 If you'd have asked someone for this list in June 2007, this would doubtless have been higher. Hence the reason this isn't further down the list. After all, he'd overseen a decade of rising growth and prosperity. However, the continued decline of British industry and the rise of an unsustainable service sector, especially banking, not to mention ballooning personal and corporate debt, would create a perfect storm for the man who succeeded him.
Spin= -4 In our post-News of the World World, it now seems grotesque the lengths a Labour Prime Minister went to to court the right wing media, including but not solely News Corp. And it did at the time too... The general media obsession of the Blair government meant that what looked at first like slick operation soon became tiring. And it reached an ugly climax with the death of Dr David Kelly.
Contempt for Parliament= -4 Partly born of the colossal majorities he won, partly the sheer feebleness of the Opposition, and mainly because it prevented him from being out on the trail, Blair was not a great House of Commons man. Instead, it became an arena to be endured, a theatre, rather than the Mother of All Parliaments. Plus, there is a very real chance he lied to it. The Big No-No of British politics.
Cabinet Government= -5 Closely linked to the above, Blair's decision to use Cabinet to agree a party line, rather than, say, make policy, wasn't all his fault; in part it was born of Labour's experiences in the long wilderness years. But you know things are bad when you David Cameron and Nick Clegg are the ones who have to restore Cabinet to something approaching its proper place.
Presidentialism= -5 Would rank lower, if it wasn't for the fact Blair was by no means the first politician to practice this (Mrs Thatcher, Lloyd George, Harold Wilson all come to mind) Makes you realise the value of a monarch...
Tuition Fees= -5 In summer 2011 I went to a talk by Alan Johnson, the minister who piloted tuition fees through Parliament. It was really interesting to see the logic behind them. I was almost convinced. But then, against that is the fact they are fundamentally unfair, land students with a lifetime of debt and were bound to be exploited when the Tories returned to power.
The NHS= -5 In 1997 we only had 24 hours to save the NHS. Which the great British public did, by voting for the party which abolished the internal market. Pity it was late brought back in under another name, but some people will always moan.
PFI= -6 Yes, we may have had shiny new buildings. But one day, a Prime Minister currently still in secondary school, and a Chancellor currently the age of one of my Scouts, will have to work out how the hell we're going to pay for it all.
Impact on British Politics= -6 Blair was apparently always bored by the classic left/right paradigm. Whether this meant taking a social democratic political party and dragging it rightwards towards Thatcherism in order to 'look credible', at the very moment the public was tiring of that creed, subsequently dragging the whole of the British political spectrum right... hence why we have Red Ed for a Labour leader still nowhere near as left wing as Neil Kinnock or even John Smith (at least in public)
Foreign Policy (Excluding The Obvious)= -7 If anyone knows what happened to Robin Cook's 'ethical foreign policy', I'd be grateful to know?
Civil Liberties= -8 For a country which faced, and saw off, nearly thirty years of IRA terrorism, I'm not quite sure we needed all of the statist authoritarian stuff. And by all, I mean any.
Iraq= -9 Yes, perhaps obviously the lowest point. Even at 13, I didn't believe in the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Neither, it seems, did much of the country. Or the House of Commons. Or even sections of the Government. Nor, rather crucially, the UN Weapons inspectors. The Atlantic Alliance was upheld above international law, public opinion and our national interest. The result was a bloodbath in Iraq. The Middle East Peace Process was completely derailed, never to fully recover. And as Ken Clarke put it in the debate prior to the war, "How many other terrorists will we recruit? Next time a large bomb goes off in a western city, how far did this policy contribute to it?" The only saving grace here is a ruthless dictator was removed from power. When we'll get round to the rest remains to be seen...
Total Negative Score= -71
Combined Average= -13
Which, bizarrely, is probably my overall view too.
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