Why Tony Blair wears that look of virtuous but irritable bafflement

The Prime Minister has long felt an unshakeable conviction that he brings to bear a unique insight into human affairs. There are great schemes to transform society and make a better world which he would undoubtedly accomplish if only circumstances allowed. Sadly they do not. A number of factors — dim-witted ministerial colleagues, unco-operative Labour MPs, an incompetent Civil Service, the mulishness of Gordon Brown and a cynical press and broadcasting media are probably the five which loom largest in the Prime Minister’s mind — have prevented him from carrying them out. Hence the look of virtuous though irritable bafflement that has gradually become Tony Blair’s most characteristic public expression.

The Prime Minister combines victim status with an irrational cheerfulness. This profoundly dotty air of martyrdom accounts for the overwhelming sense of unreality that has begun to emerge from Downing Street as Tony Blair embarks on his final years, or just as likely months, in office.

Nobody really cares any more. Three months have now elapsed since the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a Cabinet post, became vacant. In the normal course of events it would be a reasonably pressing matter to find a replacement. But Downing Street aides say that Tony Blair ‘can’t be bothered’ to carry out the necessary reshuffle, as if that were an explanation. The casualness was on display when Mr Blair didn’t bother to turn up and vote on his Religious Hatred Bill two weeks ago. There was no real remorse afterwards. It was just one of those things.

As he reaches the end of a long premiership, Tony Blair has come to feel an extreme sense of detachment. He conducts himself less like the powerful centre of a dynamic government than a disinterested though still curious observer.