Tuesday 12th September

On Sunday I caught Blair being interviewed on Andrew Marr.  It is tempting with Blair to simply dismiss him as both a has-been and a liar over Iraq, but there is something about him; when he starts talking you tend to listen – and a lot of it makes sense.

His main argument was that even though the public had voted for Brexit, it would be such a disaster that it was the responsibility of Government and M.P.s to find a third way.  He admitted that people were concerned about immigration but that very immigration was essential for the economy.  Problems such as depressed wages and schools and hospitals could be dealt with.  He thought there was a far larger problem with non-EU immigration, which has never been addressed by any Government.  He said that we should be having discussions with Europe about ways of limiting the worst effects of free movement of people, such as Benefits and people arriving without jobs.   He thought there might be European leaders who would prefer to amend free movement rather than lose the UK from the EU.

He also bewailed the lack of any Centrist party in Britain; Labour having moved Left – possibly as a consequence of the Tories moving to the Right.  He called on all M.P.s to look to their consciences and stop Brexit.

Well, convincing as he may be, it isn’t going to happen.  The best we can hope for is that the Government fails to get the final Brexit deal passed by Parliament and a General Election is called and Labour wins and begins a re-negotiation…and then who knows.

Blair cannot bring himself to approve of Corbyn or his policies, he thinks that they will also be a disaster if ever implemented.  But we know that neo-liberal policies have brought us to this parlous state – he seems to be calling for a continuation of them.