Blair’s Final Speech

Tony Blair gave his final speech today as leader of the Labour Party at its annual conference. It contained a fair few things I agreed with: the importance of social justice; the commitment to Europe; the commitment to stem cell research and so on. He also listed a number of good things Labour have done over nine years and some of them were genuinely great achievements: introducing a minimum wage, introducing civil partnerships for gay couples (Labour’s record on gay rights has actually been impressive when compared to the total lack of advancement under the previous Tory government), the bans on fox hunting and smoking in public, devolution, the Human Rights Act, far greater representation of women and black people in Parliament and in the Cabinet. Of course, I’m not in the Labour Party and I oppose a fair amount of what Blair said: nuclear power, ID cards, the war in Iraq. Blair’s speech reminded me both of why I’m not in the Labour Party, and also why I do admire him in a way.

I used to think Blair was amazing, a great Prime Minister. I’d have voted for him in 2001 for sure. But he’s made so many mistakes, his government have passed so many bad laws and done so much damage. However, I suspect that the Tories would have done largely the same: they supported the war in Iraq after all, I’m certain they’d have passed much of the draconian terrorism legislation that Labour have passed. But they wouldn’t have done the good things that Labour have done. I think the country is in a better shape than it was nine years ago; I think the UK in 2006 is a better place than it would have been had the Tories won any of the last three elections. Of course, it’s got its problems and it’d be in much better shape if the Lib Dems were in charge.

His speech was quite emotional. There were a few moments where his voice seemed to be cracking and I suspect there were a few tears amongst some audience members. At the moment few people seem to like Blair, few Labour members even. But there was no booing, no jeering, but genuinely warm applause. Even I found myself liking him by the end and I’m usually pretty critical of him. I think he’s a good man on the whole, and I think he’s been a good Prime Minister, despite all the terrible things he’s done. But this could well be the emotive speech having an effect on me; I could well wake up tomorrow hating him just as much as I have done at time in the past. But for the moment, I don’t think he’s all that bad.