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Articles tagged with Tony Blair
The Ballad of David Miliband
by Sadie Smith / 28 Mar 2013 11:47
It’s been over twenty-four hours since the one-time boy wonder of the new Labour movement announced his intention to stand down from Parliamentary politics and head off across the pond. The wailing, gnashing of teeth, renting of garments and laments along the lines that David would have, one day, returned to the front bench to lead the comrades to the sunlit uplands of electoral success, is finally dying down.
So maybe now is
Gordon Brown's alive - and doing the right thing
by Sadie Smith / 07 Mar 2013 10:52
The end of day adjournment debate is undertaken after all the other usual business of the House – Departmental questions, Private Member’s Bills, government legislation, and Dennis Skinner roaring about “posh boys” – is over. They are an opportunity for backbench MPs to pin a Minister down about a local issue and, whilst nothing substantive often emerges, it is a useful way in which ordinary Members can hold the Government to account.
It’s
Labour needs to see the Lib Dems for who they really are
by Emma Burnell / 14 Jan 2013 15:29
The Lib Dems are not the party some of Labour’s soft left like to think they are. This is not to denigrate the Lib Dems in any way. Most of the people I know who share this opinion are – in fact – Lib Dems. It’s quite insulting to them to be held up in the imagination of others as a left wing party with an interest in civil liberties. They believe the Lib
How can Labour get back into government?
by Emma Burnell / 17 Jul 2012 09:07
In the same way New Labour was both a reasonable reaction to what had gone before and a revolution in its own right, the 5 Million Votes analysis must now be just as well informed by our past, as responsive to our present and as mindful of our future.
It must not be a way of fighting stupid, pointless and ridiculously bitter internal Labour Party battles, but of researching ways in which
Serwotka: Tony Blair's political return is 'appalling'
by Amber Elliott / 03 Jul 2012 15:06
Mark Serwotka does not like the idea of Tony Blair's second political wave.
"Any idea of a return to politics for Tony Blair is appalling," he tells me.
"He's done his damage and he's best doing what he does now."
We have been speaking about the PCS's decision to field candidates at future elections – potentially even standing anti-austerity figures against the Labour Party (you can read about that here).
Live: Tony Blair at the Leveson Inquiry
by Tom Rollins / 28 May 2012 09:52
Tony Blair is now giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry
***
LJ Leveson reiterates that he has no intention of "perilling the free press" and a political consensus is "important, if not critical" and the absence of consensus would be difficult
Has no doubt that any future PM will have all sorts of ideas and policies to implement, however the phone hacking issue may not be high on the agenda and
The return of Tony Blair is not the real threat to Labour
by Sadie Smith / 15 May 2012 09:14
The news that Tony Blair – also known as 'the Tonemeister' or simply 'St Tony' – is planning a political comeback has precipitated a lot of chuntering from the usual quarters.
Indeed, the leaden thought that Bremner, Bird and Fortune might make an interminable return to our screens in order that we can hear the same unfunny repetitions on the 'Blair is Bush’s poodle' gag has put the dampeners on the
Politicians, the internet and mental health
by Charlotte Henry / 03 May 2012 11:28
We value ‘real life’ experience from our MPs, or like we think we do, as my colleague Caroline Crampton rightly pointed out when launching this fantastic initiative. Depression is a real life experience for nearly a quarter of people in this country, yet we hardly hear of MPs referring to the day(s) that they just couldn’t face getting out of bed. Or felt that they never wanted to get out of bed
What we can learn from Mo Mowlam
by Sebastian Mann / 02 May 2012 12:15
When Tony Blair selected Mo Mowlam as his Northern Ireland secretary following New Labour’s 1997 election victory, he thought the tumour the size of a small orange in her frontal lobe was benign. The notoriously ballsy MP, who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, had deliberately withheld the severity of her condition from her party’s leader because she feared it would damage her chances of a position in the cabinet.
She was
Depression and anxiety on the parliamentary estate
by Sadie Smith / 30 Apr 2012 08:36
“I heard a joke once. Man goes to doctor, says he's depressed. Life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. The great clown, Pagliacci, is in town. Go see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. "But doctor", he says, "I am Pagliacci." Good joke.”
A quote from the 2009
British PMs in Japan
by Max Burman / 10 Apr 2012 11:54
David Cameron is today ‘banging the drum’ for British business in Japan. With the prime minister saying he hoped to revive the UK’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy, we thought it would be apt to revisit five notable exchanges from previous years.
May 1979: New PM Margaret Thatcher visits Japan
In Tokyo for an economic summit, Downing Street memos released recently show that Lady
Who is Labour's Christopher Hitchens?
by Dan Hodges / 16 Dec 2011 13:20
He is no more. Hitch, RIP. Come to think of it, resting in peace is the last thing you would have wanted to do. Rest in hyperbolic but beautifully crafted fury.
The left lost Christopher Hitchens long before today. Or at least what some have called ‘the classic left’ did. Those of us on the neo-Blairite wing of the movement recognised, if not quite a good comrade, at least a kindred spirit.
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"The prime minister has said he does not believe that statutory legislation is necessary to achieve the principles outlined by Leveson."
