The Legitimacy of the Legacy of Tony Blair

The legacy of Blair, says Steven Fielding,
was Iraq and is Iraq and will remain Iraq,
so that the sword the Queen of the UK is wielding
to honor him as gartered Knight is subject to attack.

Personally, I reject all such attacks,
casting my un-British vote for Blair because his views
about religion echo those of Jonathan Lord Sacks,
who is a great supporter both of Israel and the Jews.

In my opinion the attacks now made against
this ex-Prime Minister have, although he is a gentile,
a scent that’s anti-Zionistic, I presume incensed
by Corbynites, not of his adversaries a small percentile.

I’m biased, and don’t have a shred of evidence
supporting such an allegation, but am sure Lord Sacks
would have agreed that what I write makes, very sadly, sense
in England’s pastures green, where Jews now need to watch their backs.

In “Petition to Rescind Tony Blair’s Knighthood Gets Hundreds of Thousands of Signatures,” NYT, 14/22, Stephen Castle writes:
By tradition, former British prime ministers are honored by Queen Elizabeth some years after leaving 10 Downing Street, so the elevation of Tony Blair to a knighthood on New Year’s Day could have been a routine event.

Instead, more than 600,000 people have signed an online petition asking that the honor be rescinded, illustrating how one of Britain’s most successful politicians remains a divisive figure, never forgiven by his critics for taking the country to war in Iraq…..

The petition comes after Mr. Blair became a member of the Order of the Garter, following an appointment made on New Year’s Eve by the queen. Dating back almost 700 years, the order is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain. The current prime minister, Boris Johnson, was not involved in the decision, his office said.

“It’s a fool’s errand,” said Steven Fielding, professor of political history at Nottingham University. “His reputation for the moment is locked into the Iraq war. He spent the last year of his premiership trying to establish his legacy, and it was all pointless because his legacy, like it or not, was Iraq, and is Iraq, and will remain Iraq.”