| Special Commentary on Prime Minister Blair’s 10 Years in Office: | Volume VI, Number 77 |
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Blair Brought UK Closer to Brussels, Farther From Washington -- Any assessment of what Tony Blair’s years at Number 10 Downing Street meant internationally has to be made in light of the tugging between the Anglo-American special relationship and the UK-European reality. Despite trying to keep Britain closely tied to America, the Blair foreign policy unintentionally weakened British ties to the United States and by default, pushed Britain ever closer to the EU.
Blair Accepts Thatcherism, Devolves the Celts -- Domestically, Tony Blair’s time as PM has been one of lost opportunities. In this, he is much like Bill Clinton. Both men are quite clever, able, and rather likable. They just didn’t deliver much. The Britain Tony Blair leaves behind is much different from the country that elected him in 1997. To say that it is better is a matter of perspective. Blair’s Economic Legacy Subcontracted to Gordon Brown -- The Blair years economically were not really the Blair years at all. Tony Blair, to be honest, is bored by discussions of economic policy. He was more than happy to let Gordon Brown be Chancellor of the Exchequer all this time. Mr. Brown has done a pretty fair job of keeping Britain from screwing itself up on the money front, and the real concern is whether Mr. Brown can find someone to do half the job he did now that he is Prime Minister himself. That said, Tony Blair gets high marks for delegating a job that he would have handled badly himself. Blair’s Cultural Legacy of Free Museums and the Millennium Dome -- Tony Blair became Prime Minister at a time when British designers, musicians and artists were passing through a rather fertile period. The new PM was a rather middle brow fellow culturally, although having played bass in a rock band distinguished him substantially from his predecessors Benjamin Disrael, Pitt the Younger and Lord Salisbury. The Arts, as opposed to pop culture, under Mr. Blair didn’t fare all that badly. The question, though, is whether he had anything constructive to do with it. © Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux. |
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