War, debt, drunkenness, a broken nation: the real legacy of Tony Blair
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/norma ... ony-blair/
Norman Tebbit
Lord Tebbit of Chingford is one of Britain's most outspoken conservative commentators and politicians. He was a senior cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's government and is a former Chairman of the Conservative Party. He has also worked in journalism, publishing, advertising and was a pilot in the RAF and British Overseas Airways.
War, debt, drunkenness, a broken nation: the real legacy of Tony Blair
By Norman Tebbit Politics Last updated: May 2nd, 2012
Tony Blair: a bleak legacy
Fifteen years ago, the carefully stage-managed crowds cheered as their hero arrived in Downing Street to take office on a wave of hopes for a better Britain. What was his legacy? What did Tony Blair achieve? Debt, war, ignorance, welfare dependency, social division.
The crushing burden of debt has held back our wealth creating industries, left us with higher taxes, lower pensions, higher prices, and fewer jobs
Blair's wars – the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq and the consequential war in Afghanistan – have left thousands of our servicemen dead or injured, tens of thousands civilians dead or injured, a prosperous secular Iraqi middle class destroyed, Islamic extremism gaining in strength, and our historical friendly relationship with Pakistan soured.
Blairite education policies have brought about an upsurge in illiteracy and innumeracy, and left a generation of near-unemployable young people.
High taxes, low tax thresholds and distorted welfare policies have created an army of welfare junkies, families in which no one works or indeed intends to work, and a culture in which idleness often pays better than employment.
A welter of "equality" legislation, the doctrines of political correctness which have inhibited robust debate, 'elf 'n' safety regulations which inhibit rational behaviour and a calculated confusion of entitlements with rights combined with uncounted, uncontrolled, unlimited immigration and the sickness of multiculturalism, have torn society apart and led to racial and cultural tension and near-apartheid by consent in parts of our cities.
Blair's licensing law reforms have brought back Hogarth's Gin Lane to a city centre near you.
Mr Blair's complicity in the vast extension of powers of Brussels and the creation of a European Union with almost all the attributes of a sovereign state may well prove to be the step too far which precipitates the collapse of the whole construction, but it will be at a heavy price.
There is comfort to be found in the rational response of one-time Labour voters, some 5 million of whom deserted the party during the Blair-Brown years.
None the less there is one matter wherein he has achieved extraordinary success. His creature Lord Mandelson famously remarked that he was relaxed about people getting filthy rich. His master Mr Blair has certainly done that. But his riches are not just filthy. Much of his wealth has been made in the United States and to some of us it carries the reek of the blood of the British servicemen whose services he contracted out to President Bush in their Middle Eastern wars.
He at least has done well out of his time as Prime Minister.