There are quite a few interesting stories in the outside world. The crisis in Haiti; Zimbabwe’s indoctrination camps; the LRA in Uganda with their worst atrocity yet; China getting nervous about democracy in Hong Kong, while demonstrations in Taiwan notch up the tension; Putin amassing more and more power to himself: the Democrat leadership contest in the US, plus the gay marriage furore – and in Iraq, there’s the unfolding story of the UN oil-for-food scandal.
So what do we get in our Sunday broadsheets? It’s all about Clare Short; Katherine Gun; was the war illegal? who was bugging who? and on and endlessly on. “Army chiefs feared Iraq war illegal just days before start” is The Observer line. The Sunday Times reports how Claire Short has vowed to bring down Tony Blair. The Independent – virtually a one issue newspaper now – has “Revealed: Attorney General changed his advice on legality of Iraq war”. Turn on the BBC and either Robin Cook or Clare Short is being interviewed.
The line seems to be that the Iraq war keeps coming back to haunt Blair, but clearly that’s only because these journalists – the liberal establishment – are determined the issue won’t go away, especially after the Hutton Report wasn’t to their liking. Clare Short is certainly out to destroy Blair, but she’s helped by the fact that the press are right behind her.
At least the Sunday Times is aware of the problem:
Margaret Thatcher famously dismissed a critical question over the retaking of South Georgia in the Falklands with the words: “Rejoice, rejoice!” There is plenty of evidence from the polls that many voters are irritated by the constant digging around in the war’s entrails — a chattering-class issue — and would rather the prime minister also said “rejoice” and got on with other things. The war removed an evil dictator who was a danger to peace and, by demonstrating the West’s willingness to use force, probably helped delay the most dangerous threat the world faces: nuclear proliferation that could result in these weapons getting to Al-Qaeda. Mr Blair, however, is no Thatcher. His weakness is that he tries to be all things to all men. The war was one of the tough choices he keeps telling us about. One day he will have to tell his critics, particularly in his own party, to stop carping and accept that reality.
Much as he would love to tell the Labour party to stop carping, Blair’s personal authority at the moment just isn’t strong enough for him to do that.
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