Tony Blair is the most successful politician of his generation. He has transformed the Labour Party from a protest coalition into Britain's natural and (it seems these days) perpetual government, a feat achieved by neither Clement Attlee nor Harold Wilson and not even attempted by the Party's only other postwar premier, James Callaghan. Blair has skilfully contrived his views to appeal to that section of voters which determines the outcome of British general elections; the apparent effortlessness with which he has done this is evidence of a keen political instinct. Yet he hasn't been afraid at times to challenge those on whose support he depends: his own Party (on Clause Four), the security state (on Northern Ireland) or the British public (on Kosovo). In each of these cases, he has a claim to having been proved right. We should remember this when we ask why he is so eager to fight a war that appears to the majority of his electorate to be unnecessary, highly dangerous and potentially very bloody (including on the home front).

LRB 20 February 2003 | PDF Download