Puddleduckspeak posted by bat020

I mentioned awhile back the bizarre linguistic contortions exhibited by Tony Blair at his Downing Street press conferences. A BBC report today suggests that Blair's own communications gophers are now getting worried their master's increasingly deranged rhetoric.

The story concerns a press briefing on Monday 7 November, prior to Blair's humiliating defeat over the 90 days internment proposal. As the BBC reports:

Downing Street has denied foul play after it was accused of tampering with Tony Blair's words in a transcript. Eyebrows were raised on Monday when Mr Blair described himself being reduced to "a little puddle of water".

The prime minister said that would have been his fate if he had opposed anti-terror laws when in opposition. But anyone checking his words on the Downing Street website will have found the colourful turn of phrase missing from the official transcript.

The story then goes on to quote the entire passage missing from the transcript:

"But you imagine if when I was running, in 1994, when I was running for the leadership of the Labour party and we'd had the worst terrorist attack in this country just a few months before I was running for the leadership - and the then Conservative government had said we need this legislation because the police tell us it's necessary, you tell me how easily I would have got away with saying 'sorry I am just not doing that'. You tell me how many of your newspapers and your media outlets would be saying 'oh well fair enough, there is no need to question him at all. I wouldn't have got away from any TV studio or any interview with anyone without a little puddle of water being where I once was." [emphasis added]

The official explanation for excising this passage was that it was "political" (unlike, of course, anything else the prime minister says). And sure enough, the speeches section of the Downing Street website now contains the following weirdly worded disclaimer:

Here you will find a selection of non-political speeches, statements, broadcasts and interviews made by the Prime Minister since May 1997.

Of course, right wing ideology has long held an aversion to the "political", preferring instead to present its actions as "sensible" or "pragmatic", mere expert technical administration. But for the PM's own website to insist on the "non-political" nature of Blair's speeches is surely taking this self-deception to quite absurd lengths.

A more plausible explaination for the excision is that someone pointed out that when Blair was leader of the opposition, he did regularly lead Labour MPs in opposing the Tory government's anti-terrorism legislation. Of course, that was back in the old days when the Labour Party had to go through the motions of being left wing...

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On the subject of Blair's Commons defeat – a brief ideological note. This 90 day internment proposal – and the host of other repressive measures that accompany it – was brought in after the 7 July bombings on the back of an explicit attempt to whip up fear and hatred against Muslims. Blair's logic was simple – people would either blame 7 July on the war, or blame it on Muslims. And he did not want them to blame the war.

Now authoritarian racism directed against a minority as a cover for imperialism is hardly a new tactic. But it is often quite hard for the left to resist the onslaught and win the arguments over civil rights. The fact that Blair has been knocked down on this, possibly the hardest issue for the anti-war movement, suggests that his authority has all but completely drained away. And it is the Iraq war that has been his nemesis here.

My guess is that over the next few weeks we'll see the anti-Blair rebellion leak out and seep into the New Labour domestic agenda – in particular the plans to massively extend privatisation in the NHS, education, housing etc. Once Blair starts falling on the domestic front too, his goose will be well and truly cooked.