When Will Blair Go(To Be Continued And Continued-Yawn)
The British press have now got themselves firmly in the When Will He Resign mode-even the BBC uses the loaded word resign,partly no doubt because of the simple illiteracy of their pimply ' juvenile 'uni' educated recruits ,but also out of undisguised contempt. Blair will not of course 'resign'.He will hand over power in a calm orderly fashion-the question is -when.
The current drooling hysteria in the anti Blair press is natural seeing that they feel the fox is in sight but I think its largely misplaced
As I said in a previous article, within a year or two things in Britain will have changed considerably.The new Wembley stadium will have opened spreading pop concerts across the world , the high speed raillink and huge Eurostar development will be up and running,Iraq security forces will have allowed America and Britain to make huge cuts in their troops- and of course,Blairs ill omened star Bush will be in histories dustbin.
Could not a new President herald a new invigorated and ascendent Blair?-think of it -the smiling experienced oldtimer patting the new Presidential arrival condescendingly on the back just before he too enters the history books -but on a golden page-and ascendeth into Heaven?...
If all this is possible then why -the question must be asked -did Blair make the most stupid mistake of declaring he would hand over power before the next election .Instead of clearing up any confusion he has merely added to it.
Every oracle in the business has tried to fathom this one out.There are however surely several quite simple answers. First,nothing concentrates the mind like the thought that you are going to be hung next week.The British populace may resent Blair bitterly-just indeed as they resented Mrs Thatcher but similarly,they know he like she, has kept Britain at the forefront of the world and in Blairs case produced unrivalled prosperity.The thought that daddy will be leaving home for good might well concentrate peoples minds-but for what purpose you ask?.
Well ,it might just be spite-one can see Cheries Antionettish hand behind it-Why not tell them your LEAVING -THAT would make them sit up and think-without you they would still be eating bread-the ungrateful wretches!
Then however there is the fact that saying he is leaving relatively early does allow other aspiring leaders to prepare to throw their hat in the ring and challenge Brown ,something Blair may want.
I have always believed that the so called war between Blair and Brown is overwhelmingly childish media fabrication, who are quite brazen in this kind of area.After all, one can still read apparently serious occasional articles in the British press headed' Charles is Desperate to Become King.' Really? Charles is desperate ,as a reflective, philosophical minded person aged fifty seven, an age when most men are looking forward to more time in the garden to talk to the flowers , have a few friends round for drinks and a laugh-is desperate to take on a position with responsibility but absolutely no power and even more duties than he has now? And being someone who,having met many thousands of people, many of whom have died ,who lives with the daily thought of Dianas death and the death of his grandmother ,is supposed to be looking forward urgently to the death of his mother...Come off it please!
Gordon Brown is in many ways in a more established position of authority than Blair. For nine years he has been the most important person in the government.All eyes turn on him in the cabinet. No decision,about going to war, about giving aid can be taken without his curt Yes ,we can or No,its impossible.When he looks out of the windows of the Treasury ,the Britain he sees is for good or ill,of his making
He is regarded as Britains and the worlds most successful finance minister,he knows how every government department works and is run: for nine years he has been meeting and outlasting nearly all world leaders,yet we are told Blair mustl hand over power to him soon,because he will apparently need time ' to bed himself in as Prime Minister' As he already lives in Number ten-(Blair prefers the bigger next door house),he wont even have the bother of moving
I suspect that in fact Blair will hand over power to Brown merely six months before the next election-which will not be before 2010.Brown will be a youthful but experienced fifty eight Please note this statement! Lord Truth is seldom wrong!
But that still has not answered the question-Why did Blair make that decision about leaving?
Could there be a simple down to earth reason,... Unlike cabinet ministers who often disappear into some kind of nether world, a Prime Minister of Blairs reKnown knows there is a most enjoyable life out there beyond the grave of retirement-and even that may not be complete as Blair may well feel he is cut out for a kind of Super Carter role -as an international mediator and peace broker once he is free from political restraints at home.
Nevertherless,despite the possibilities of endless freeloading ,weeks on Steve Allens yacht and at Bill Gates ranch,some money is needed,if only for Cheries hairdresser.Where to come from? A PUBLISHERS ADVANCE-Yes ! Of Course!Thats how that house in Little Kuwait,just off the Edgeware Road was bought ,and there should be about twenty million left over in the bank unless I'm mistaken ,but people dont lend you that kind of money unless they are certain you actually will get down to writing the stuff,which in turn means retirement from British politics....
So a deal was reached
Heres the cheque..as we agreed finally..I think its quite generous...everything will be kept completely confidential of course but I'm sure you realise there will have to be a clear public statement of your deliberate intention to retire as is written into the contract here ,our bankers are demanding it ,after all, if you decided to stay and the memoirs couldnt be written...I'm sure you understand their position...
So there it is...it was all a sordid matter of money...
Incidentally regarding Cheries hair,some years ago I was standing in a tiny ,hot room waiting tense and nervous for a decision in a case I had conducted myself and felt very strongly about.A reporter asked me about my case and angrily I replied pointedly adding I had brought it on principles, I was not like the thin faced kind of vicious looking legal bitch earning five hundred an hour.Cherie Blair was standing next to me with two of her male acolytes.Slowly and menacingly she turned and faced me bringing her slim body against me and her face looking up directly to mine,I was taller but I am sure our noses actually touched .I can still feel the heat from her eyes and I'm sure the careful tangles of her hair became writhing snakes but perhaps I was just tired.Unfortunately the untimate effect was lost because living abroad I had temporarily lost touch with British politics, Blair was not PM ,so I did not know who she was.
I believe she got her client fifty thousand pounds-I suffered one of the most appalling pieces of predidice in legal historyIronically when I had finally obtained at a later ,higher hearing , a written judgement connected with the case praising my claims and saying I should pursue them I phoned Cherie -who I still did not know politically (oh foolish me) who hearing the details told me my written judgement was 'gold dust'.When I finally took it to court myself, the judge (who retired almost immediately afterwards) and the other sides lawyers not only threw my claim out but ordered me to pay a few thousand in damages.Of course I should have appealed but after being gone over by the Gestapo I suppose you learn your lesson .The case still has considerable legal resonance -is so to speak still unfinished.Oh Cherie Cherie,if only I had put everything in your hands...sometimes I call your name in the night....
Since I am clearly in a meandering frame of mind I feel I must mention before leaving a recent blog by Lord Rees Mogg in the Times online who indicated some kind of support for fixed term parliaments and Prime Ministerships.Now LRM is a person with some clout and I was pleased that various people all universally disapproved of the idea.Since these ideas can gather steam I must join the protesters.
Is there anything ,anything more mind numblingly ,suicidally boringthan recalling the flat, foot odour voice of dear old Alistair Cooke intoning yet again the same words 'In Washington evryone is getting ready for the mid term primaries 'or whatever they are called....Oneof the most ghastly things about living in America must be having to go through,ceaselessly year after year, the whole empty ritual of the American electoral system with all its gargoyle like charades...
Fixed term parliaments and the rest are the most constipating of political structures.
People in Britain are bored enough by politics ,afixed term system would put them to sleep completely......ah butperhaps thats the idea..I think we should keep an eye open about this suggestion....
The current drooling hysteria in the anti Blair press is natural seeing that they feel the fox is in sight but I think its largely misplaced
As I said in a previous article, within a year or two things in Britain will have changed considerably.The new Wembley stadium will have opened spreading pop concerts across the world , the high speed raillink and huge Eurostar development will be up and running,Iraq security forces will have allowed America and Britain to make huge cuts in their troops- and of course,Blairs ill omened star Bush will be in histories dustbin.
Could not a new President herald a new invigorated and ascendent Blair?-think of it -the smiling experienced oldtimer patting the new Presidential arrival condescendingly on the back just before he too enters the history books -but on a golden page-and ascendeth into Heaven?...
If all this is possible then why -the question must be asked -did Blair make the most stupid mistake of declaring he would hand over power before the next election .Instead of clearing up any confusion he has merely added to it.
Every oracle in the business has tried to fathom this one out.There are however surely several quite simple answers. First,nothing concentrates the mind like the thought that you are going to be hung next week.The British populace may resent Blair bitterly-just indeed as they resented Mrs Thatcher but similarly,they know he like she, has kept Britain at the forefront of the world and in Blairs case produced unrivalled prosperity.The thought that daddy will be leaving home for good might well concentrate peoples minds-but for what purpose you ask?.
Well ,it might just be spite-one can see Cheries Antionettish hand behind it-Why not tell them your LEAVING -THAT would make them sit up and think-without you they would still be eating bread-the ungrateful wretches!
Then however there is the fact that saying he is leaving relatively early does allow other aspiring leaders to prepare to throw their hat in the ring and challenge Brown ,something Blair may want.
I have always believed that the so called war between Blair and Brown is overwhelmingly childish media fabrication, who are quite brazen in this kind of area.After all, one can still read apparently serious occasional articles in the British press headed' Charles is Desperate to Become King.' Really? Charles is desperate ,as a reflective, philosophical minded person aged fifty seven, an age when most men are looking forward to more time in the garden to talk to the flowers , have a few friends round for drinks and a laugh-is desperate to take on a position with responsibility but absolutely no power and even more duties than he has now? And being someone who,having met many thousands of people, many of whom have died ,who lives with the daily thought of Dianas death and the death of his grandmother ,is supposed to be looking forward urgently to the death of his mother...Come off it please!
Gordon Brown is in many ways in a more established position of authority than Blair. For nine years he has been the most important person in the government.All eyes turn on him in the cabinet. No decision,about going to war, about giving aid can be taken without his curt Yes ,we can or No,its impossible.When he looks out of the windows of the Treasury ,the Britain he sees is for good or ill,of his making
He is regarded as Britains and the worlds most successful finance minister,he knows how every government department works and is run: for nine years he has been meeting and outlasting nearly all world leaders,yet we are told Blair mustl hand over power to him soon,because he will apparently need time ' to bed himself in as Prime Minister' As he already lives in Number ten-(Blair prefers the bigger next door house),he wont even have the bother of moving
I suspect that in fact Blair will hand over power to Brown merely six months before the next election-which will not be before 2010.Brown will be a youthful but experienced fifty eight Please note this statement! Lord Truth is seldom wrong!
But that still has not answered the question-Why did Blair make that decision about leaving?
Could there be a simple down to earth reason,... Unlike cabinet ministers who often disappear into some kind of nether world, a Prime Minister of Blairs reKnown knows there is a most enjoyable life out there beyond the grave of retirement-and even that may not be complete as Blair may well feel he is cut out for a kind of Super Carter role -as an international mediator and peace broker once he is free from political restraints at home.
Nevertherless,despite the possibilities of endless freeloading ,weeks on Steve Allens yacht and at Bill Gates ranch,some money is needed,if only for Cheries hairdresser.Where to come from? A PUBLISHERS ADVANCE-Yes ! Of Course!Thats how that house in Little Kuwait,just off the Edgeware Road was bought ,and there should be about twenty million left over in the bank unless I'm mistaken ,but people dont lend you that kind of money unless they are certain you actually will get down to writing the stuff,which in turn means retirement from British politics....
So a deal was reached
Heres the cheque..as we agreed finally..I think its quite generous...everything will be kept completely confidential of course but I'm sure you realise there will have to be a clear public statement of your deliberate intention to retire as is written into the contract here ,our bankers are demanding it ,after all, if you decided to stay and the memoirs couldnt be written...I'm sure you understand their position...
So there it is...it was all a sordid matter of money...
Incidentally regarding Cheries hair,some years ago I was standing in a tiny ,hot room waiting tense and nervous for a decision in a case I had conducted myself and felt very strongly about.A reporter asked me about my case and angrily I replied pointedly adding I had brought it on principles, I was not like the thin faced kind of vicious looking legal bitch earning five hundred an hour.Cherie Blair was standing next to me with two of her male acolytes.Slowly and menacingly she turned and faced me bringing her slim body against me and her face looking up directly to mine,I was taller but I am sure our noses actually touched .I can still feel the heat from her eyes and I'm sure the careful tangles of her hair became writhing snakes but perhaps I was just tired.Unfortunately the untimate effect was lost because living abroad I had temporarily lost touch with British politics, Blair was not PM ,so I did not know who she was.
I believe she got her client fifty thousand pounds-I suffered one of the most appalling pieces of predidice in legal historyIronically when I had finally obtained at a later ,higher hearing , a written judgement connected with the case praising my claims and saying I should pursue them I phoned Cherie -who I still did not know politically (oh foolish me) who hearing the details told me my written judgement was 'gold dust'.When I finally took it to court myself, the judge (who retired almost immediately afterwards) and the other sides lawyers not only threw my claim out but ordered me to pay a few thousand in damages.Of course I should have appealed but after being gone over by the Gestapo I suppose you learn your lesson .The case still has considerable legal resonance -is so to speak still unfinished.Oh Cherie Cherie,if only I had put everything in your hands...sometimes I call your name in the night....
Since I am clearly in a meandering frame of mind I feel I must mention before leaving a recent blog by Lord Rees Mogg in the Times online who indicated some kind of support for fixed term parliaments and Prime Ministerships.Now LRM is a person with some clout and I was pleased that various people all universally disapproved of the idea.Since these ideas can gather steam I must join the protesters.
Is there anything ,anything more mind numblingly ,suicidally boringthan recalling the flat, foot odour voice of dear old Alistair Cooke intoning yet again the same words 'In Washington evryone is getting ready for the mid term primaries 'or whatever they are called....Oneof the most ghastly things about living in America must be having to go through,ceaselessly year after year, the whole empty ritual of the American electoral system with all its gargoyle like charades...
Fixed term parliaments and the rest are the most constipating of political structures.
People in Britain are bored enough by politics ,afixed term system would put them to sleep completely......ah butperhaps thats the idea..I think we should keep an eye open about this suggestion....
posted by Lord Truth at 6:36 am
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