Tony Blair

[Bello Uomo]

Admittedly, I am an outsider. But here goes:

* For his work in advancing the Northern Ireland peace process by negotiating the Good Friday Agreement

* For being George Bush's lap dog in a totally one-sided relationship with the US

How did you assess his term as Prime Minister? Is the UK better or worse off after a decade of Prime Minister Tony Blair?

[K2]

Originally Posted by Bello Uomo

How did you assess his term as Prime Minister? Is the UK better or worse off after a decade of Prime Minister Tony Blair?

On economy, business and wages - much better off. (Courtesy of Gorden Brown).

Socially - much worse off.

Europe - unchanged.

Northern Ireland - good.

Middle East - bad.

Overall - done better than expected - a tough act to follow.

Farewell Wallace (of Wallace & Gromet).

[nelsonone]

agree with Kev....but gave Britain an edge of "sexiness" in his first term that he never followed through with.....hitched his wagon to a pro war Bush...as did Howard in Australia.....and became so tricky with spin that he tricked himself into thinking people wouldn't notice his nasty behind the scenes politicking.......so suffered the consequences

Bring on the next!

[Bello Uomo]

Originally Posted by K2

Overall - done better than expected

7 out of 10?

[keith67]

Originally Posted by Bello Uomo

7 out of 10?

Jumping before he was pushed speaks volumes....

[dawsey]

I had high hopes when Labour, under Tony Blair were elected in '97. They started well, and reforms were pushed through quickly and it seemed things were great.
But his Chancellor had other ideas. His policy of underhand and postdated taxes meant that whatever we took home from our pay, he managed to take more and more when we spent any of it. That chancellor is now the new Prime Minister and I dread what he will do next.

As for Blair, he had some good points, but I struggle to think of them.

N Ireland.........a resounding success in getting the Irish leaders to stop the violence and get together around the conference table.

I think he was, and is a genuine man, but was badly misguided in going to Iraq. Now British lives are being lost on a daily basis to win peace where civil war is alive.

His total failures.

Law and Order.................. worse than ever. A new law passed for every 7hrs he was in power, 0000s of new laws swamping us with bureaucracy (sp)
Health Service .............A total joke despite £millions being thrown at it.
Taxation............ We are worse off now than when he came into office.
Housing............. Still no sign of low cost housing to enable first time buyers to have any chance to get on the property ladder.

Immigration............... Utter disaster letting in Bulgarian, and Romanian citizens who have no job or home. They will suck the welfare state even drier.

His final gift for citizens of the UK? To hand most of our say on how we run the country, re taxation, laws ,to the European Union. Thanks for nothing Tony.

The worst of all for me. He has managed to let the UK turn in to a nanny state, thinking the government rule our every activity and pastime. If they think its bad for us, ban it. Totally PC crazy.

If I had to mark Blair for his efforts he would get 2/10. Good Riddance.

Whether Gordon Brown will be any better, who knows, but he has to be better than Blair ever was.

[sishow]

Now before I start. I was a labour supporter before blue labour came to power (If only John Smith survived to take power!). So im gonna be a bit damning. Plus there is the fact that I was only 17 when he came to power, so I may not have all the 'facts' or the right time frame.

What alot of people say is his High points ie; Northorn Ireland and the economy. I dont totally agree with. I feel (from a Irish catholic background) that the two Irish leaders should take alot more credit than the national leaders over this, although Berti and Tony will have some input in to the process. The total change of attitude by Ian Paisley from a total non-cooperative stance to getting to a table to talk to S.F. is probablly the most extreme change of pollitical ideaology of recent times. I feel that this process was started on to this course before Blair took power, but he ran with it. The time had come to finish the tit for tat war that exsisted between both sides and their sub-groups.

The economy flourished at first, and still is to a considerable degree. But what with the recent disclosures of 'magical tricks' that Brown was doing with the figures and the knock-on effects that these policys and tax changes will have for generations to come. (If you are in big business or in certain positions (ie not working class or in a low paid job!) then its a boom time.)


Although other things which others have said have got worse, I think has either stayed the same or even slightly improve. The health service for instance have been seen to be riddled with problems for years by the DAily MAil, but overall its still a good service. But of course moneys becoming an issue as new treatments and drugs become more and more expensive and the mortality age increases (NHS maybe?). How many other countrys would like a NHS to be involved in?

Immigration is a bit of a two-sided monster. All figures given seems to suggest that the overall effect is positive. But there will always be people and media blaming all societys problems on the easist target. Not to say that some immagrents don't cause a problem, and are abusing the system. But the majority are hard working and have come here to improve. But being a part of the Europe, I fail to see what real effect Blair had on this! Yes he could pospone certain nationalities coming for a few years. All this would do is put these 'problems' back until then!


Overall, I would give him 4/10. He started off well with some good policys. But then decided he was the "president" and thought he could do what he wanted, before the war on terror(???) really finished him off. Too much spin, not enough straight batting.

To be honest, I can see more of the blue labour with Brown in power. Conservatives have never had it so good! THey have a government making conservative policys without having to become unpopular themselves. Maybe why Cameron is in charge?

[Bello Uomo]

Looks like we have a 2/10 from Dawsey, a 4/10 from sishow, maybe a 7/10 from K2, and a 4.5/10 from me. Oh dear...