Criticism of Tony Blair

This article deals with some of the criticism levelled against former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Spin (public relations)
The terms "spin" and "spin doctor" as euphemisms for not telling the truth came into widespread use in politics in the 1980s. Blair has been criticized for excessive use of spin in politics which earned him the nickname 'Bliar'. Criticism of Blair's alleged aversion to providing information clearly and completely reached its height with allegations that he and his Director of Communications and Strategy, Alastair Campbell, had "spun" the Iraq Dossier. Although a key document used to justify the Iraq invasion, the dossier was fabricated from information sourced from the internet and included typographical errors transposed from the original webpages. The document was issued to journalists and used by the government to justify the use of British soldiers in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The justification was necessary because a petition to the UN for a mandate to invade Iraq was not successful. As a consequence of the events leading up to the alleged illegal invasion of Iraq; there have been calls for Blair to be called to account for his actions. Four years after leaving office in September 2010, Blair was heckled as an (alleged) war criminal and pelted with missiles as he attempted to sign copies of his biography in a Dublin bookstore. Subsequent scheduled signings of his book in the UK were cancelled.
Middle east
Iraq
Blair justified use of the UK armed forces for the invasion of Iraq by claiming that there were weapons of mass destruction capable of being launched at the UK with 45 minutes preparation along with appeals to the British people to 'Trust me'. However, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq and subsequently U.S.-led inspections agreed that Iraq had earlier abandoned its WMD programs. The inspectors have subsequently speculated Iraq had an intention to pursue those programs if UN sanctions were ever lifted, although there is no evidence to support these speculations. The invasion was not sanctioned by the United Nations who were approached as a way of legitimising the invasion.
Gordon Brown, the successor to Blair as British Prime Minister, set up the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war to cover the period from 2001-2009, originally stating that it would be held in private. However, subsequently, the chairman of the inquiry, Sir John Chilcott, stated that hearings would be in public unless there were "compelling reasons" for witnesses to be heard in private. The enquiry started at the end of July 2009, after the return of most British troops from Iraq. On January 29, 2010, Blair appeared before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war , he denied making a covert deal to invade Iraq. When asked about reasons for invasion he said that the British and American attitude towards Saddam Hussain had "changed dramatically" after the Twin towers September 11 attacks. Blair also denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if had thought Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. He said he believed the invasion was authorised by Resolution 1441. However, that viewpoint was disputed by Lord Goldsmith, the Blair government's head legal advisor, in January 2011 . Providing evidence to the Chilcot enquiry, Goldsmith said that remarks made by Blair to the British Parliament "did not accord with the advice he had given Mr Blair". Blair has said that there was not a day goes by when he doesn't reflect on what happened in Iraq, but he believed that the world was safer as a result of the invasion. During his permiership, Tony Blair denied that the Iraq war had anything to do with oil. Since then he has been a paid advisor for UI Energy, a South Korean oil company with interests in Iraq and the US.
Libya
During the 2011 Libyan uprising Blair's offering Muammar Gaddafi 'the hand of friendship' and 'embracing Gaddafi during two high profile visits to Tripoli', when he had been Prime Minister, was widely criticised. Former British PM, John Major defended Blair attempts to normalise relations with Gadaffi and said, it was "very easy" to be critical in retrospect and commented that one of the outcomes of Blair's actions was that "Gaddafi moved away from weapons of mass destruction, that was a very significant prize." Douglas Alexander said, "Nobody had any illusions as to the repressive nature of the Gaddafi regime, but there was a judgement made, a difficult judgement, that the broader interests of the international community were served by Libya renouncing a nuclear weapons programme and sponsoring terrorism." Blair phoned Gaddafi twice on February 25 2011 and asked him to stop killing protesters. Gaddafi, " simply ignored the man who pioneered the dictator's temporary rehabilitation by the West."
Cash for privileges
In 2001, Lakshmi Mittal donated £125,000 to the Labour Party after Blair had written a letter to the Romanian government recommending that they sell the state steel producer to Mittal. The letter hinted that the privatisation of the firm and sale to Mittal might help smooth the way for Romania's entry into the European Union.
Blair came under fire for reportedly selling peerages to wealthy businessmen in return for financial funding for the Labour Party. The Crown Prosecution Service stated on 20 July 2007 that, in their view, they were unable to find enough evidence to bring a successful prosecution against anyone. Although Blair was reported as pleased that charges were not pressed, he and the Labour party were not exonerated from acting illegally, except perhaps under the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty. The decision of the Crown Prosecution Service was made on the basis of a lack of evidence and an assessment of the likelihood of a conviction. Assistant Commissioner John Yates claimed there was "political pressure" applied to him and that "there were ... instances when we received less than full cooperation", though also claiming he did not believe it was "deliberate in its intent."
Identity cards
The Identity Cards Act 2006 enabled the Government to introduce national identity cards, and authorised the creation of a National Identity Register on Britain's citizens. Critics of ID cards argue that the Register threatens privacy and civil liberties, and that they could be used to deny access to public services.
The government maintained that ID cards are crucial in counter-terrorism and crime prevention. However the opinion of many senior staff, including ex-cabinet ministers formerly involved with the study, is that these claims are exaggerated.
Following the 2010 General Election, the Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition intends to scrap the ID cards scheme with the Identity Documents Bill 2010.
His departure
Blair's apparent refusal to set a date for his departure has been criticised by the British press and members of parliament. It has been reported that a number of cabinet ministers believed that Blair's timely departure from office would be required to be able to win a fourth election. Some ministers viewed Blair's announcement of policy initiatives in September 2006 as an attempt to draw attention away from these issues.
One example is the use of private capital to fund public projects (under the Private Finance Initiative). Another policy which has attracted criticism is the introduction of independent Trust Schools.
Alliance with Bernie Ecclestone over tobacco advertising
In 1997, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was involved in a political controversy over Labour Party's policy on tobacco sponsorship. Labour had pledged to ban tobacco advertising in its manifesto ahead of its 1997 General Election victory, supporting a proposed European Union Directive banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship. At this time all leading Formula One Teams carried significant branding from tobacco brands such as Rothmans, Benson and Hedges, West, Marlboro and Mild Seven. The Labour Party's stance on banning tobacco advertising was reinforced following the election by forceful statements from the Health Secretary Frank Dobson and Minister for Public Health Tessa Jowell. Ecclestone appealed 'over Jowell's head' to Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, who arranged a meeting with Blair. Ecclestone and Mosley, both Labour Party donors, met Blair on 16 October 1997, where Mosley argued:
"Motor racing was a world class industry which put Britain at the hi-tech edge. Deprived of tobacco money, Formula One would move abroad at the loss of 50,000 jobs, 150,000 part-time jobs and £900 million of exports." On 17 November Blair apologised for his government's mishandling of the affair and stated "the decision to exempt Formula One from tobacco sponsorship was taken two weeks later. It was in response to fears that Britain might lose the industry overseas to Asian countries who were bidding for it." In 2008, the year after Blair stepped down as Prime Minister, internal Downing Street memos revealed that in fact the decision had been made at the time of the meeting, and not two weeks later as Blair stated in Parliament.

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