“Blairaq” screamed the headline on the front page of Tuesday’s Independent. This was a reference to a poll that revealed 69 per cent of Britons believe Blair will be remembered for the war in Iraq. “Remarkably,” continued the paper, “his next highest ‘legacy rating’ — just 9 per cent — is for his relationship with the American President, George Bush.”
Needless to say, the Indy took it for granted that this was an out and out catastrophe for Blair — and this in spite of the fact that the poll also revealed that 61 per cent of the public think he has been a “good” Prime Minister.
I, too, believe that Iraq will be Blair’s most enduring legacy and that, by and large, he has been a good Prime Minister. However, I don’t see any conflict here. On the contrary, I approve of Blair precisely because of his conduct over Iraq.
How can I defend such a position? Well, to begin with, I’m not basing my assessment of Blair’s decision to wage war on the current situation in Iraq — and not because it looks so bleak, either.
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