The Tories’ push to scupper President Blair is the highest form of flattery

31 October 2009

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics

When William Hague put on his masterful performance at the Dispatch Box last year, imagining how Gordon Brown would feel as President Blair’s motorcade pulled into Downing Street, it seemed the funniest thing in the world to the Tories. But the last laugh may yet be on them. The idea of President Blair is now featuring in their own nightmares — especially given how unpopular David Cameron expects to be after the first year of his cuts agenda. One Tory elder is warning friends: within 18 months, Blair may yet again be the most popular politician in Britain.

A Blair EU presidency is not (yet) regarded as probable, but the prospect already has Westminster in a fluster. Brown’s Downing Street is throwing what diplomatic weight it has behind him as the Tories do the opposite. Those Cabinet ministers unofficially running the Blair campaign are urgently advising him to move out of ‘come and get me’ mode and start actively campaigning for the job.

Some Labour backbenchers are furious at the prospect of the man they forced out swanning unelected into the job of president; others are taking Hague-style delight in imagining Mr Cameron’s discomfiture. Think of the young Tory Prime Minister trying to compete on the international stage with the most famous British politician in the world.

The Conservatives still have something of a Blair complex. Gordon Brown is fairly easy to despise, as opinion polls indicate. But even now the Conservatives live in awe of Blair, knowing that he — like Thatcher — was never defeated at the ballot box. There is a near-obsession with persuading a Blairite — whether it be James Purnell or Andrew Adonis — to defect. The leadership does not think the party will be safe until it has absorbed Blairism into its DNA. To understand this, it is important to realise that many of those working in Cameron and Osborne’s office actually voted for Blair in general elections.

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