Blair snubs Cook funeral for his holiday

[cal04]

Key points
• Tony Blair likely to face storm over funeral decision
• PM decides to put holiday first
• Blair's action seen as final snub

Key quote
"I'm not aware the Prime Minister has any plans to return from his holiday, but clearly if there was to be some kind of memorial service in the future, he would be attending that." - Prime Minister's spokesman
TONY Blair will deliver a final snub to his former foreign secretary Robin Cook by staying on holiday in the Caribbean rather than returning to attend his funeral in Edinburgh on Friday.

Mr Cook's funeral will be one of the biggest political commemorations Edinburgh has seen. The "celebration of Robin Cook's life" will take place in St Giles' Cathedral at 11am on Friday and will be a major national event. Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, Jack McConnell, the First Minister, and dozens of other senior Labour figures will attend the service. Mr Brown will make the main contribution while Madeleine Albright, a former United States secretary of state under Bill Clinton, and a close friend of Mr Cook's, is also expected to deliver an address at the service.

But Downing Street said last night that the Prime Minister does not intend to break his stay in the Caribbean for the event, preferring instead to attend a later memorial service, possibly in Livingston.
If that is what happens, Mr Blair will be a very notable absentee from a funeral which will be the biggest gathering of past and present Labour figures in Scotland since the funeral of Donald Dewar five years ago. No 10 said Mr Blair would attend a later memorial service.
"I'm not aware the Prime Minister has any plans to return from his holiday," said his spokesman. "But clearly if there was to be some kind of memorial service in the future, he would be attending that."

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1749382005

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Who ta hell goes to the Caribbean in August???

Middle of hurricane season and the trade winds die. Hotter than hell, little wind. :eyes:

[bpilgrim]

2. probably scheming with shrub on the secure video up-link

that can't wait :scared:

peace

[uppityperson]

3. Like father like son.Your vacation time is sacred. Good poodle

[ignatius 2]

4. A cowardly prick like Blair could not bear to be at the funeral

of a truly courageous man of principle. Blair and Bush, cut from the same cloth. One won't attend the funeral of a wise man who was so right about the Iraq war and who had the courage and guts to stand behind his beliefs, the wee cowboy is scared to face a woman who has lost her child in Iraq.

Bullys,blowhards,mass murderers..it is a good thing they can hide behind their thrones for they are certainly not built of anything of substance.

They both make me physically ill.

[AlamoDemoc]

5. Blair is coward, period

:puke:

[Robbins]

6. Blair

He could show respect. I mean Clinton went to the funerals of Nixon,and Reagan and Clinton worked to beat Nixon,and was against Reagan. While there are things to criticize Clinton for there are things that show him to be far better than Blair,or Bush.

[scarletwoman]

7. Wow -- read the "ANALYSIS" that follows the main story!

THE politics of funerals has been a murky affair ever since Mark Antony came to "bury Caesar, not to praise him". The death of Robin Cook looks like being no exception.

It is set to be a big summer event, where various Labour grandees will pay respects to a man of the party's anti-war left.

It will be a convention of "Real Labour", burying one of their warriors.

How fitting, then, that Tony Blair should be off on holiday - lying somewhere hot, clutching something cold, while the Old Labour he never really understood has a sombre family reunion.

<snip>

For anyone serious about the soul of the Labour Party, Friday's funeral will be the event of the summer. In death, Mr Cook is rapidly being seen as a patron saint of the party, upholding its purity, which was defiled by the Blair government during the Iraq war.

<snip>

Mark Antony's speech inspired his fellow Romans to rise up against those who conspired against Caesar.

Those who listen very carefully on Friday may detect a similar theme running throughout the Chancellor's eulogy.

Perhaps some good may yet come out of this grievous loss of an honorable man...

sw

[magellan]

18. Not altogether unpredictable

bLiar has only a modicum more class than Bush**. And since Bush** has none....

How fitting, then, that Tony Blair should be off on holiday - lying somewhere hot, clutching something cold,

"Cherie, is that you?"

[quiet.american]

22. You're right -- worth a read. :) n/t

[teknomanzer]

8. A truly boneheaded decision...

I though Blair was at least a little smarter than Bush... I might have been wrong. How much political capital will Blair lose with this blackhearted and dimwitted move?

[prole_for_peace]

9. he has been hanging around * way too much.

vacation takes precedent over everything else apparently.

well MINE does but i am only a lowly staff accountant. not the "ruler" of a country.

[lovuian]

10. Another suspicious death in Jolly Ole England!!!

those poor people to have Blair is a sad thing!!!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

17. What's suspicious about Cook's death?

[MaineDem]

11. You're fucking kidding?!!!

I can't believe this! I really can't. How inconsiderate and petty.

Holy shit, I'm really blown away by this. It's inconceivable!

[hlthe2b]

12. Good, God... *Bush's arrogance truly is contagious...

Damn, Blair, I hadn't totally given up on you and the possibility of your finding a conscience. I guess I hadn't totally dispensed with naivete'. :mad:

[grytpype]

13. Jesus, what an insult!

This is horrible. I'm just beside myself with rage. What a snub, it's unbelievable.

[KoKo]

14. His wife was left to climb down the mountain after Cook was airlifted???

A snip from the rest of the article:

After her husband had been airlifted to the hospital, where he was declared dead at 4:05pm, Mrs Cook was left to make her way down the mountain on foot. :eyes:

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. The helicopter wasn't able to land

so winching her up into it would have delayed it; I'm not sure if there was room for her, either. That's just a decision by the emergency services for the best medical care. The other walker who had phoned in the emergency went with her.

[saracat]

15. I HATE TONY BLAIR! What a disgusting animal.

He certainly has sold his soul to the devil.And why isn't Bill Clinton going? Mourners too leftist for Hillary?

[Not_Giving_Up]

16. Bush and Blair are both on vacation at the same time?

The "Coalition of the Willing" is being led by not one, but TWO guys on vacation?

[vard28]

19. Silly people...

... or course he's not really in the Caribbean in August. He's really helpin' georgie with all that brush! That's another reason they want Cindy and her gang out of there so they can sneak him in. :sarcasm:

[TabulaRasa]

21. I have to hand it to this crew:

They've changed my views on the death penalty. I now favor its application to them. Blair needs to be hanged and from Bush's balls to boot ... how's that for poetic justice?

[Spazito]

23. Blair is every bit as petty and small-minded as bush

as this article proves. I despise both of them equally.

[Inland]

24. Blair should worry about a big Labor meeting w/o him being there.

You know, at any reunion the person who doesn't show becomes the subject of conversation.

Blair's going out with a finger to Cook, Labor and the UK.

[goforit]

25. This guy has nooooooooo class!!!