Goodbye Tony

Tony Blair is going to resign as Prime Minister today, after serving for (just) over ten years. He is not someone I have usually liked but nor is he someone who I have ever really disliked. I think the UK has changed for the better under his premiership, but how much that is down to him and how much to general changes in society and to buoyant worldwide economic conditions, it is hard to say. At least he did not screw things up too much. He really is a great leader with the knack of giving inspirational speeches, which often made one proud to be British. I did not agree with his decision to join the US in the war against Iraq and I never believed the stories about the weapons of mass destruction which provided the pretext for the war. This war has cast a shadow over his last years.

However, I do think he has harmed democracy by centralising so much of government and over-riding his cabinet and parliament, as well as relying too much on 'spin'. I also think he has been too cautious in many of his policies, afraid of what the right-wing gutter press might say about any progressive policy he may pursue. That said, after ten years he has achieved a lot for a number of people in society and, certainly, gay and lesbians find themselves living in a much better country than they did under Thatcher, for example.

So, it will be interesting to see how Gordon Brown will fare, although by all accounts he has had tremendous influence over what has been done over the past ten years. When Tony came in we won the Eurovision Song Contest within two days. Now if Tim Henman were to win Wimbledon just as Gordon Brown takes power, that would be nicely symmetrical. Somehow I doubt that wil happen. Maybe Tim will win his second round match...