Comments on: Kicking Blair Upstairs

By: mart

mart — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:48:02 +0000

I know Jacques Chirac would say yes to Blair taking up the EU presidency.
1) I very much doubt he would; 2) He’s no longer in any position to do anything about it.

Gordon Brown wants someone who understands spin and Europe to boost his popularity rankings.
I’m not sure anyone is able to rescue those ratings, and I really don’t see how Europe factors into that. Anyway, he has ~~First Lord of the Galactic Imperium~~ Mandy to look after the spin for him.

By: Mutimba Mazwi

Mutimba Mazwi — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:17:48 +0000

I would also go for Blair; I know Jacques Chirac would say yes to Blair taking up the EU presidency.

Does G. Brown have anything in it? Of course, after the MPs scandal, Gordon Brown wants someone who understands spin and Europe to boost his popularity rankings.

By: guthrie

guthrie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:10:40 +0000

Wait a minute, wasn’t this widely predicted when Blair stepped down, and indeed I am sure I recall people saying this was what Blair was aiming at whilst he was still prime minister?
Is it my imagination or is politics quite predictable these days?

By: Tim Wilkinson

Tim Wilkinson — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:50:12 +0000

Re: #3 – Conspiracy theory about Roman Catholics? I can’t remeber the exact terms, but the point was based on the fact that Blair is very lucky to be allowed to call himself RC given his unrepentant violation of just war doctrine, let alone his attitudes to contraception and abortion (which being a socially-liberal atheist – relative to Abrahamic conceptions of God – I don’t disagree with – though, like most moral philosophers, I don’t consider abortion to be unproblematic by any means.)

Cook, yes – though a less tendentious description would be ‘covert action hypothesis’, and it seems pretty odd to me that such programmatic and non-defamatory remarks should be censored. I suppose I’d better save the text of this comment for reference.

Still, I’m grateful at least for your flagging and explaining said (proprietorially entitled) censorship, instead of going for consignment to the memory hole.

(and if this makes the cut; re: #8 – Iraq is rather important I’d say from any perspective – even a European realpolitik pov – after all, no-one bar the most abjectly bulliable states were ‘dragged in ‘.)

By: Idiot/Savant

Idiot/Savant — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:59:22 +0000

Meanwhile the Stop Blair petition has over 30,000 signatures...

By: James C

James C — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:33:10 +0000

Blair seems incredibly unlikely to get it. I wonder is Prodi a possibility? Meets the centre-centre-left and “knows EU” criteria.

By: bert

bert — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:38:51 +0000

#11:
… following the logic set out later on in the Charlemagne post.
Is Jacques Santer available?

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:45:27 +0000

William Hague was complaining yesterday that the real danger was that Blair would be too effective.

By: Paddy Matthews

Paddy Matthews — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:23:22 +0000

Yep.

By: Henry

Henry — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:35:53 +0000

You’re referring to the Bord Snip report, I’m presuming …

By: Paddy Matthews

Paddy Matthews — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:03:03 +0000

if the Lisbon Treaty passes

That “if” is a good deal bigger today than it was yesterday.

By: yabonn

yabonn — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:18:40 +0000

Blair’s support for Iraq is a bad point, but maybe not that important outside of the UK. Iraq is a smaller deal if you were not dragged in it, politicians make mistakes, etc.

By: Nur al-Cubicle

Nur al-Cubicle — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:39:56 +0000

Britain’s EU Presidency was a big disappointment and much criticized. Based on that alone, I don’t believe there’s a chance for any British candidate. I suspect France and Germany are fearful that he might seriously push Turkish entry into the EU.

There’s that old joke about the Pope and sex, “he don’t play-a the game and he don’t make-a the rules”. Britain treats the EU at arm’s length and half the time pretends it’s not in it. A nice, tame Slovene fits the bill.

By: bert

bert — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:32:47 +0000

Apparently if Barroso gets another term heading the Commission, Blair’s chances improve. This is because Barroso is a Christian Democrat, and so Blair will provide balance, being a European Social-ist.
Reminiscent of the way the RAI TV channels were shared out in Italy back in the day. But with the absurdity element cranked up another several notches.

By: P O'Neill

P O'Neill — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:13:26 +0000

God forbid that we have someone in a top level EU position who supported George Bush in invading Iraq.