CLAIM VS REALITY
In his campaign speech yesterday, Tony Blair repeatedly attempted to re-write history on the EU, referendums and even his support for Ed Miliband. Here, JAMES SLACK sorts the claim from the reality.
ON ED MILIBAND:
CLAIM: I want Labour, under Ed’s leadership, to be the government of our country on May 8. I believe we can and will do it. I back him 100 per cent. REALITY: Barely three months ago, Blair suggested to the Economist magazine that Miliband is not up to being Prime Minister. He said it could well be an election ‘in which a traditional Leftwing party competes with a traditional Right-wing party, with the traditional result’ – a Labour defeat.
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE:
CLAIM: I am aghast at some of the arguments used as to why having such a vote is ‘a great idea for democracy’. He says Britain should not have periodic referendums ‘all over the UK just to check popular feeling’. REALITY: In office, Blair was obsessed with testing public opinion. He presided over votes on devolution for Scotland and Wales, the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland, a regional assembly for the North East and more than 30 contests on directly elected mayors.
AN EU REFERENDUM:
CLAIM: I agree that a vote on Europe would also be of importance. But that doesn’t mean it is sensible to have it. REALITY: In office, he thought it perfectly sensible to ‘let the people have the final say’, pledging a 2004 referendum on the EU Constitution which, after he stood down, became repackaged as the Lisbon Treaty. He was also secretly plan- ning a referendum on joining the euro, according to the memoirs of Cabinet Minister Peter Hain
JOINING THE EURO:
CLAIM: I agree that not being part of the single currency is not, at least in the short and medium term, going to imperil the supremacy of the City of London as the world’s greatest financial centre. REALITY: In 2002 Blair said Britain would be ‘ crazy’ to stay out of the euro for political reasons. He warned: ‘It is an economic union. We shouldn’t, for political reasons, stand aside. I believe it would be a betrayal of our national interest.’