Tony Blair’s analysis of the complete ideological void at the heart of Cameron’s Conservatives was so devastating because it was so accurate.
Labour’s electoral success under Tony Blair occurred because voters could see that New Labour’s policies were a natural progression from our original policy platforms and values. The same just cannot be said of the current Tory position which lacks coherence.
Peter John, leader, Southwark Labour group
The only thing more predictable than the brilliance of Blair’s delivery was the reaction of the commentariat. Despite his reputation for ‘spin’ his strength has always been the connection he makes with people and that bypasses commentators completely – so don’t get bogged down in the chaff they throw up.
His argument was cogent, his delivery flawless, and it seemed ‘authentically Blair’. The authenticity of both leaders has been questioned – today we saw the benchmark. In an election no speech makes a lasting impact unless there’s a gaffe, so this won’t be a game-changer. But Labour wants to be seen as a team, and today the public saw their best striker brought off the bench and into play and it has made a powerful impression.
Peter Kyle
Blair may not have done God as PM but he sure managed a resurrection today. Will it make a difference to the election? Probably not as much as telling all your friends George Osborne could be chancellor in a few days’ time, but if Blair or indeed Osborne make a few more Labour activists want to get out on the doorstep then the better we’ll all feel the morning after election night.
Will Parbury
Like watching Sinatra in Vegas, this was a masterclass from an old-stager. Wheeling out Blair is not without risk. But those that hate him because of Iraq are not voting Labour anyway. A far bigger group who voted Labour in 1997, 2001 and 2005 need reassuring that they should vote Labour again. Today helped to do just that. Blair’s analysis was spot-on. We don’t want change, if the change is to something worse. And Blair’s speech nailed the lie that Cameron is the heir to Blair, when really Cameron is the heir to Thatcher.
Paul Richards
Tony Blair’s emergence on the Labour campaign trail today serves as a timely reminder to voters that Cameron hasn’t even begun to change and modernise his party like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did with New Labour. That the Tories are now trying to deflect attention to a process issue like Blair not taking questions from the media is a sign that they’re clearly rattled. Tony certainly left Cameron with plenty of questions to answer.
Wes Streeting, national president, National Union of Students
Photo: www.labour.org.uk
Yes, Labour has brought its star striker off the bench but there are still too many within our ranks who would prefer the team to lose rather than see the striker scoring goals.
These five ‘commentators’ must be a unique group of people in being united that Blair is going to be an asset. Do we really think that this kind of party-speak convinces or persuades anyone?
This is sad enough but Paul Richards takes the biscuit when he says that no-one who hates Blair because of Iraq is going to vote Labour. If so it will be a white-wash to the Tories. The vast majority of Tory voters admire Blair for nothing except Iraq. Huge numbers, thank god, will vote Labour despite despising Blair over Iraq. Mr Richards vastly underestimates the intelligence of the British public.
Are we supposed to take this kind of drivel at face value? Talk about politicians ‘not getting it’ -no wonder with so-called sympathetic commentators like this.
Brian Thompson
Let us make no mistake; we cannot compare David Cameron with the two pair Gordin and Blair. This two work hard, unlike Cameron who has no plan or clear policy. All he has been doing is attacking all government programmes, not telling anyone why he felt government policies aren’t good enough for them to be re-elected to savage the economy going deeper into recession.
Brian Thompson says it all. A lot of Tories have voted Labour in the last elections now they are going home to their first team. We need to win back the supporters alienated by Blair and Brown with their Tory policies. They may have changed the Party to suit careerists like Wes Streeting – who probably thinks he will waltz into an MPs job – but what about the 200,000 members who have left because of the war, the privatisation, the rich getting richer, etc.
There is no doubt that Tony Blair was and is a brilliant orator but the sycophantic comments above don’t bear much resemblance to real opinions. If you don’t believe this, ask yourselves why Blair had to be sneaked into the Iraq enquiry though the rear entrance while Brown walked in through the front door. Blair’s tragedy was to have led the country into an unpopular war by making claims about WMDs which turned out not to be true. The Iraq war eventually ended his premiership and did great damage to the Labour Party and to trust in politicians. Had he been wiser and stayed out like Harold Wilson did on Vietnam he would probably still be prime minister and Labour would have a better chance of winning a 4th term.
TONY BLAIR is very much part and parcel of New Labour, his wisdom and stewardship is thus eternal and will always be the hard-drive in the software, of future Labour policy and agendas. Having won 3 general elections successfully is no ‘chicken feed’! Thus, the popularity stakes for New Labour was confirmed then, and I have no doubt it will also continue now ~ for our strong and able minded successor Gordon Brown – affectionately cited formerly as the “Iron Chancellor” now playing a level field at the bowling and batting end as the Iron PM” against his feeble oponents, to tread the route of success ~sure and steady, that Britain is now on course and fully geared to up hold, under able stewardship and steady hands, along with a star-studded team of eminent, hardworking ministers that spell out the talent loud and clear, with reliability of purpose and clear ability to delivery, not withstanding the hands on experience for problem solving, and solutions that Britain could depend on. So, good luck to the winning team!
Shiranee Ranasinghe
tony blair, the reason i resigned from the labour party, enough said
I know personally many potential Labour voters who are still angry with Blair about Iraq. Regardless of the contents of Blair’s current interventions, which most voters won’t read or hear anyway, his mere presence on the political stage is a factor against Labour in May.
The unqualified comments from the anally obessives above clearly do not match the reality. Blair, though still a crowd gatherer has lost his charm. The “future fair for all” was a very bad idea at a time when so many still have not seen economic development left by the Tories addressed by Blairs Labour project.
Poorely thought out if indeed any activity in the Cerebellum was actually monitored or implimented.
A more effective strategy would have been to play to Blairs strengths instead of applying him to a flawed and ridiiculous speech. The old man is longer a moderniser, New Labour is now associated by corruption due to the stupidity of those who propsed pro-market rhetoric but in actuuality merely emulated the Conservatives and filled their pockets at the expense of free market competition and worse still, at the expense of economic innovation as they did what they do best…..sucked up to the status quo as they are doing now .
Our economy requires drive, determination and creativity not a public/private mix up to hide the toilet-strategies of the deeply corrupt in their clumsy and deceitful role in makeing the marketds more altruistic. Markets cannot be made more ethical without compromising on their efficiences and compromising them with increased red tape.
If the markets are unfair, then it is the role of the Labour Party with a cherent and consistent policy programme to address. I guess the regressives on this site can only fumble and bumble after Blair as they trip over their own lack of vision and talent as they cynically plan to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.
Good bye Tony Blair, you past your sell-by date, 2002 was the end of your great time as a consensus maker and a positive force in the Labour Party.