Sir Tony Blair

[Fido]

I believe we paid a huge amount of money after WW2 for the support of America.

In 2006 we paid the final instalment of c. £45 million towards the repayment of our loan from the US for WW 2. Incredibly we only finished paying for WW1 in 2015.
War is an expensive business. Switzerland made the right decision. Adopt a position of neutrality. Help escaped POWs to return home and store Nazi gold in its vaults.

How long would that have been the case if the Nazis had taken over all of Europe, do you think? Probably one of the only just wars that has ever been entered into.

[Jack Halford]

And three cheers for his loosening of the gambling laws.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tony-blairs-...ves-378099

Oh yes, and the PFI time bombs we are still paying for (yes it was introduced by Major) but New Labour took it to another level…

Brown de-regulating the banks then admitting what a mistake it was.

Yet some still wonder why we needed austerity….. remember the note left by Liam Byrne

Yes it was because of an international financial crash that meant countries had to bail the banks out. Oh and the Tories before the crash were arguing for greater deregulation of the financial sector. They were also very keen to go to war with Iraq. In short the Conservatives would have gone further and done the same. 

Austerity solved nothing it just meant poorer services and created many of the problems over the last decade.

If the budget deficit hadn’t been so high pre financial crash we may have weathered the crash slightly better.

We will never know if the Tories would have had gone to War if they knew what Blair knew but didn’t share.

Chucking ever increasing amounts of money at services doesn’t necessarily make them better when they are poorly run. 

We’ll never agree Derek. It will be interesting to see how large the petition gets to strip him of his title

[Birdman1811]

And three cheers for his loosening of the gambling laws.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tony-blairs-...ves-378099

Oh yes, and the PFI time bombs we are still paying for (yes it was introduced by Major) but New Labour took it to another level…

Brown de-regulating the banks then admitting what a mistake it was.

Yet some still wonder why we needed austerity….. remember the note left by Liam Byrne

A joke every chancellor leaves to the next one. Cameron was the first to use it to score points.

[Jack Halford]

And three cheers for his loosening of the gambling laws.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tony-blairs-...ves-378099

Oh yes, and the PFI time bombs we are still paying for (yes it was introduced by Major) but New Labour took it to another level…

Brown de-regulating the banks then admitting what a mistake it was.

Yet some still wonder why we needed austerity….. remember the note left by Liam Byrne

A joke every chancellor leaves to the next one. Cameron was the first to use it to score points.

It was, but the budget deficit wasn’t. To give a balanced view, Sunak is also going to leave an almighty fiscal mess to deal with.

[Logic1]

And three cheers for his loosening of the gambling laws.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tony-blairs-...ves-378099

Oh yes, and the PFI time bombs we are still paying for (yes it was introduced by Major) but New Labour took it to another level…

Brown de-regulating the banks then admitting what a mistake it was.

Yet some still wonder why we needed austerity….. remember the note left by Liam Byrne

Yes it was because of an international financial crash that meant countries had to bail the banks out. Oh and the Tories before the crash were arguing for greater deregulation of the financial sector. They were also very keen to go to war with Iraq. In short the Conservatives would have gone further and done the same. 

Austerity solved nothing it just meant poorer services and created many of the problems over the last decade.

If the budget deficit hadn’t been so high pre financial crash we may have weathered the crash slightly better.

We will never know if the Tories would have had gone to War if they knew what Blair knew but didn’t share.

Chucking ever increasing amounts of money at services doesn’t necessarily make them better when they are poorly run. 

We’ll never agree Derek. It will be interesting to see how large the petition gets to strip him of his title

Again more bullshit. I find it laughable how people are conned by the media talking crap about the economy. Or perhaps it's because the media are so terrible at explaining how the public finances work. The budget deficit was about 2.5% of GDP in 2007 and the debt to GDP ratio was about 41% - historically low. Neither had any impact on our ability to deal with the financial crisis. Over the last year or so our debt to GDP ratio is now at 100% and yet the government can still borrow at record low interest rates. 

Typically, if health spending per capita rises (as it did under New Labour) then service quality goes up. When it falls (as it has done over the last decade) then service quality goes down.

[Pontificator]

Yes mate, if you don't like the freedoms that are enjoyed in this country and the US, then go and live in Russia or China and you might realise what you've lost. There is a reason why so many immigrants and refugees want to come here. A reason that shouldn't be underestimated.

This is surely a wind up. If you're so convinced that the USA is the custodian of all that's well in the world, maybe you should bugger off over there yourself and see how you like it.

So you are happy the US are gradually withdrawing from being the world’s policeman, happy that they withdrew from Afghanistan, happy if they withdraw from Europe, happy if they give Putin and Xi free rein? Withdraw from the South China Seas? Go and have a look around the US cemetery in Normandy it’ll break your heart.

Don't lecture me about Second World War history, pal, I've studied it in great detail. Churchill was dead lucky that FDR was so loyal to the European theatre, because many Americans would have been happy with an "America first" policy to deal with Japan as the priority. Of course the Yanks tried to pressure Churchill into invading Europe in 1943, which would have had much less input from them and probably wouldn't have been successful. Churchill was very focused on seeing the Empire survive the war intact, which wasn't something FDR cared much about. It was a finely balanced relationship.

I've never doubted the debt we owe to the Americans for their support in WW2. That doesn't mean that I can't see the deeply flawed attitude some of their people and politicians have to the wider world. Trump would have been a disaster for the role of the Americans in the world, had he won a second term. We've screwed up Europe and ourselves with Brexit. The USA can screw up so much more of the world if they wish.

As for Logic1 saying I "love Russia and China so much", that's just ridiculous. Are you 13 years old or what?

The French forgot that they were members of the club when asked to provide a united front against a facist dictator in spite of being saved twice. The US have overwhelming military capability and I for one am glad of that and grateful for NATO. This loony left anti West bullshit is pitiable. Seumas Milne is a huge fan of Russia & China - are you one of them? Logic's got a point

Anyway, perhaps you could address youself to the question:
Are you happy that the US are gradually withdrawing from being the world’s policeman, happy that they withdrew from Afghanistan, happy if they withdraw from Europe, happy if they give Putin and Xi free rein? Withdraw from the South China Seas? 

[SophLad]

It's gone a bit McCartheyite on here lads. It's quite possible to simultaneously disagree with US foreign policy and not be a card carrying Maoist with his bags packed for China.

[Kit Kat Chunky]

And three cheers for his loosening of the gambling laws.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/tony-blairs-...ves-378099

Oh yes, and the PFI time bombs we are still paying for (yes it was introduced by Major) but New Labour took it to another level…

Brown de-regulating the banks then admitting what a mistake it was.

Yet some still wonder why we needed austerity….. remember the note left by Liam Byrne

Yes it was because of an international financial crash that meant countries had to bail the banks out. Oh and the Tories before the crash were arguing for greater deregulation of the financial sector. They were also very keen to go to war with Iraq. In short the Conservatives would have gone further and done the same. 

Austerity solved nothing it just meant poorer services and created many of the problems over the last decade.

Because Labour spunking a load of cash on the NHS between 1997 - 2010 made all the difference.

[JOK]

I had more hedonistic pursuits / hobbies at the time but I think the opposition were just as keen perhaps more so to go to war if my hazy memory is correct. Anybody who thinks that the Conservatives at the time would have said no to the US is living in a blue rosette fantasy world.

I suspect they already know this but cannot bring themselves to acknowledge it.

 I don’t know how familiar you are with Robin Cook but in my view he was one of the few, more honourable politicians of the last 30 years.
 
“It seems only too likely that the judgement of history may be that the invasion of Iraq has been the biggest blunder in British foreign and security policy in the half century since Suez.”
 
“One of the things often mentioned as a rejoinder to the statement ‘Blair took us to war’ is ‘so, the Tories voted for it too’. But that vote was based on a lie or at best an omission of the facts. MPs of all hues were not given the facts.”
 
“We learnt for the first time that the Joint Intelligence Committee warned No 10 on the eve of war that the information on Saddam's weapons was "sparse" and the intelligence on its timing was "inconsistent". This explodes the assertions of weapons ready for firing in 45 minutes, but was never disclosed to parliament or public before the vote for war. Partial truth can be as corrosive of trust as a flat lie.” Robin Cook. March 2014.
 
The fact his resignation speech, from the cabinet, garnered a standing ovation from all sides of the house speaks, volumes to the duplicity of Blair. And you just pretend it's just the current lot!