Advisers spell out plans for Blair's 'last encore' (leaked memo)

[rodeodance]

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourleadership/story/0,,1865295,00.html

11.15am
Advisers spell out plans for Blair's 'last encore'

Staff and agencies
Tuesday September 5, 2006
Guardian Unlimited



An exit strategy for Tony Blair's departure from government has been spelled out down to the last detail in a leaked memo compiled by some of his closest aides, it was reported today.

The five-page document details plans for Mr Blair to leave No 10 in a whirlwind of television and radio appearances and a nationwide tour, according to the Daily Mirror.

The document, written in the spring of this year when the government was facing a series of crises - including the handling of revelations about an affair between John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, and his diary secretary and the release of foreign prisoners who should have been considered for deportation - warns: "Time is not an unlimited commodity".

[whistle]

1. Is Tony Blair still in office....jeez louise

[NVMojo]

2. the Bush poodle fancies himself as important ...don't let the door

hit ya on the arse on the way out, Tony!

[Solly Mack]

3. lol Outgoing PM, Blair, feted and tours country for one last cheer-fest

...yeah, cause that's the way it really happened. LMAO

It's all about the presentation....write the history you want

People will recall the celebration long from now...and those planning this "event" know this and understand this

[autoegocrat]

4. The headline should read: Last Dog Show for Poodle

[DavidDvorkin]

5. I can't see how that will help him in the history books

Any more than Reagan's absurd funeral will help him.

[WhiteTara]

10. history books be damned, he's just

trying to save his reputation. And obscure the fact that Poppy has a chair waiting for him at the Carlyle table.

[Kagemusha]

6. So Blair wants a heroic tribute to himself.

One that "leaves the crowds wanting more" yet going unsatisfied because the great hero walks into the sunset.

...argh

[DeepModem Mom]

7. NYT/Reuters: Leaked memo: Blair Aides Plan Star's Farewell Tour

Blair Aides Plan Star's Farewell
By REUTERS
Published: September 5, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's exit from office should be planned to the last detail and show him as a "star'' on a "farewell tour,'' according to a memo leaked to a newspaper on Tuesday.

The memo, drawn up by a team of Blair's top aides and published in the Daily Mirror, shows how a government lampooned for its obsession with spin since Blair came to office in 1997 is still determined to manage his image to the end.

It proposes a whirlwind of television and radio appearances in the final months of Blair's premiership and declares: "His genuine legacy is not the delivery ... but the dominance of New Labour ideas, the triumph of Blairism.''

"As TB (Tony Blair) enters his final phase he needs to be focusing way beyond the finishing line, not looking at it. He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won't even play that last encore,'' the memo says.

In office for nine years, Blair has said he will not seek a fourth term....But despite intense pressure, Blair, 53, has refused to set a date for his departure. He dashed the hopes of many members of his Labour party by insisting in an interview with The Times last week he had no intention of saying more about his future....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-britain-politics.html

[mike_c]

8. "...the triumph of Blairism."

:puke:

[LeftishBrit]

9. Triumph of Blairism, my hind foot!

His party want him out, before they all get dragged down in the next election; and Tony, who has never been very good at coming to terms with any sort of reality that doesn't suit him (which is most sorts) needs to convince himself that this is really a great triumph. He is so like Maggie in some ways that it's scary!

I don't think this will go down well here. We don't generally treat politicians as great conquering heroes; and one of the relatively few advantages of having the Monarchy here is that those UK-ers, who actually want to treat humans as tin gods, can do so with some rich but powerless royals, rather than with politicans who have some power. I think this will be treated by the public with the ridicule that it deserves.

[goforit]

11. Good Riddance!!! His conscience will haunt him for the rest of his life.

And he will never be able to hide behind his lies and past crimes.

[savemefromdumbya]

12. Is this it finally?

[mitchum]

13. Don't let the doggie door hit your ass on the way out, Tonyboy

fucking tool