Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Blair in Crisis: hit hard now to finish him. posted by Richard Seymour
There is a great furore about the Prime Minister's difficulties within the Parliamentary Labour Party at the moment. The good ship Blair is giving way to its inner termites. The Brownites, otherites, termites and third termites have decided to strike, at long long last, with a letter asking the Prime Minister to "clarify" his intentions - which I think is gentrified parliamentary discourse meaning "are you still here?" Blair is a lame duck, and has been so for some time. During the war on Lebanon, it was evident from every gesture and every nervous little tic on his face that he was creeping death itself. The dirty occupation of Afghanistan is getting dirtier and messier by the day. Iraq is lost to the occupiers. Blair has, by common consent, taken us into several unnecessary wars, and increased the threat of attacks in this country. How many must die before he goes?He has overseen increasing inequality, declining social mobility, growing privatisation, repeated attacks on pensions, a rise in racist attacks often fed by the government's own rhetoric, and some of the worst clampdowns on civil liberties yet seen. It has been the most reactionary, weak and nasty government in Britain since World War II. Blairite knees tremble at the sight of the super-rich and powerful, but their knuckles crunch at the sight of the poor. So it's tax breaks and lucrative contracts for one, and ASBOs for the other.
And so, now that the senators are gathering and hopefully the ides of march are upon us, our intervention is going to be crucial. These weaselly, gutless backbench MPs have copped out before, and they will do so again unless Blair's crisis is so terminal that it presents them with the immediate threat of potential career death. It would be a good idea if we made the September 23rd demonstration outside the Labour Party conference the biggest in ages. Activists all over the country are getting ready for this. No, Brown won't be any better: we know this. No one likely to succeed Blair as Prime Minister is going to be more principled, nor more left-wing, nor antiwar. But believe me - they'll know why Blair got kicked out, finishing his career as one of the most unpopular leaders we have ever had, and the whole country will know as well. Every MP will know the risk of pursuing Blair into oblivion. And it'll give us a shot in the arm as well. I suggest street celebrations on the night that this pious hypocrite with blood on his hands is finally driven out.