'Deluded': Extraordinary attack on Blair by Cabinet

[cal04]

'Self-indulgent' PM urged to 'end the pantomime' as senior ministers meet to hasten his departure
Tony Blair will be served notice to quit Downing Street at a meeting of the Cabinet next week when senior ministers plan to confront him over his refusal to commit to a departure timetable.

One described Mr Blair this weekend as "deluded", while another said he was being "self-indulgent". They are among a growing number of cabinet ministers, some formerly loyal to Mr Blair, who have concluded he must leave office sooner rather than later if Labour is to have a chance of winning a fourth term.

"This pantomime has to end or we are going to lose the next election," said one last night.

Another was brutally dismissive of the Prime Minister's attempt to "spray around policy initiatives" ahead of the party's annual conference in Manchester. "Tony is deluding himself if he thinks that anyone is listening to all this stuff."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1325433.ece

[jpak]

1. Please... please... please... throw his Poodely ass to the curb

n/t

[liberalhistorian]

2. The sooner Blair is ousted the better,

and I'm glad his own party recognizes that and has the courage and fortitude to actually do something about it, as painful as it must be for them. I don't know what the hell happened to him, I had such high hopes for his first few years until Dim Son got into the WH and Blair became his poodle. I'll never figure that one out, except that Blair is somehow being blackmailed in some way. He's simply too damned smart to so staunchly support Dim Son the way he's been doing. I am so bitterly disappointed in him and disgusted.

[spindrifter]

5. Truly, his loyalty is bizarre.

Blair is no dummy--he knows he takes major hits as a result of Dimson--so why does he sit there with his knickers in a knot?

[StrictlyRockers]

6. God, I really wanted to like Blair. So much! He at least has a brain.

But, he as wound up being a bitter disappoinment. Bye bye poodle-boy. And good riddance!!

[UWS_DEM]

7. Why Blair is Loyal to W

Seems like he must be ensnared in the Abrahmoff mess, which incents him to be very loyal to W.

[cyberpj]

21. Blair is lined up for highly paid job at Carlyle Group & Bush Sr....

Tony Blair is expected to join one of the most exclusive groups of businessmen in the world after he leaves Downing Street.

The PM is being lined up for a highly lucrative position with the Carlyle Group - an American-based investment giant with strong links to the White House and the defense industry.

The firm has been nicknamed "The Ex-Presidents Club" because it has had a host of former world leaders on its books including George Bush Senior, his former secretary of state James Baker and former British PM John Major. There a also a large number of former US Army top brass.

Mr. Blair has been keeping quiet about his plans after his departure from Number 10 - which could be as early as 2007 according to some Labour insiders.

But sources in the City have revealed that he is "seriously considering" a high-profile role with Carlyle - which manages $30billion (£20million) of investments worldwide.

The job could net Mr. Blair up to £500,000 a year for only a few days work a month giving speeches and making "networking" trips on behalf of the company.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082305B.shtml

[Taxloss]

3. Yeah, there's areal whiff of the grave around Blair lately.

More so than usual. He's becoming increasinly isolated and embattled -the patry conference is going to be really difficult. He may even use it to quit. (Don't bet on it though.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Do you think he might use a 'heart scare' as an excuse?

Having had that 'irregularity' earlier, I'm sure he could find some doctor to say being PM is too stressful a job for him - then he can retire to his place on the board of News International, and the American lecture circuit, while pretending to himself he wasn't chucked out.

[sweetheart]

9. He should listen to humongous:

"Just walk away, and i will grant you safe passage through the wasteland. Just walk away."

[Taxloss]

12. I've wondered that before. It's an excellent get-out clause for him.

He's got the lecture circuit and the "I was right all along" autobiog to go first, that shiny new house isn't cheap and Cherie is getting high-maintenance.

[HamdenRice]

25. Taxloss, how does a vote of no confidence work ...

if the party wants to keep control and not call elections?

I know that unlike our unfortunate system, in a Parliamentary system it is possible to end an unpopular government early if the Parliament passes a vote of no confidence or the government fails to pass a bill with a majority.

But that usually leads to new elections and risks a change of parties.

Is there any way to pass a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, but not the Labour Party? What happens if a majority of the cabinet vote to oust the PM -- or can they do that?

And if there were a vote of no confidence and an election, wouldn't Labour win again anyway and would you still be stuck with Blair?

[LeftishBrit]

26. Leaders can be directly dumped by their Parliamentary parties...

without calling an election. It most usually happens in the Tory party. Heath was dumped (while in Opposition) for Thatcher, who was 15 years later dumped for Major while she was serving as Prime Minister. More recently, the Tory party in Opposition dumped Ian Duncan-Smith for Michael Howard.

I think it's technically more difficult for the Labour Party than the Tory Party to get rid of a leader who doesn't wish to go, due to different party rules; but it's not impossible.

More often, leaders are gently persuaded by their party colleagues (who aren't that keen on losing power, or worse, their seats in the next election) that it really is time for them to retire for health reasons/ decide to spend more time with their families/ other excuse.

[Taxloss]

27. A VNOC is unlikely right now. What is much more likely is a leadership

challenge. A leadership challenge would change the leadership without risking removing Labour from power.

This typically happens in the following way. Because a leadership challenge forces everyone to show their hands and make their allegiances more known - it's a very treacherous time - they are too risky to undertake just like that, if the leader is not ousted a lot of people would lose their jobs. So a contest can be sparked by an outsider who doesn't have any real chance of winning. He would then go on and lose, but the secret ballot would demonstrate the scale of the crisis within the party - how many people were prepared to oust the leader and put in an outsider. If enough votes against the leadership are gathered, then the big guns know that Blair is on his way out and declare their interest. Then, Blair would be forced to resign and call a leadership challenge. So that would operate as a VNOC in the leader alone.

How likely is this? Increasingly, but it's still unlikely on the whole. It would get a lot likelier if Blair refused to set a date for his departure at the Party Conference, which is coming up, especially if Labour has a "bad conference" (fractious, uninspiring) and the Tories have a "good conference" (united, exciting).

At that stage, tell-tale signs of an impending contest would be high-profile resignations/sackings - Brown resigning would be a clear indicator that it's curtains for Blair. It's all rather hermetic and confusing, though, for everyone - much like a large-scale version of the "prisoner's dilemma".

Some more discussion of it all here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=191&topic_id=18143&mesg_id=18143

[autorank]

4. K&R. He looks like he's had a walk down Goofy Street with

Beyonce. She's looking, well, whatever...He looks like he's been huffing sterno.

[Greeby]

10. (VIDEO) His depature will probably look something like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrAfEqSMTDE :evilgrin:

[MisterP]

11. problem is, he's authoritarian, like Fiberglass Maggie

his reaction to dissent is invariably, "Silence! You will not speak!" Tumbledown Tony might make himself Lord Protector--and Bush can knock Chucky out of the way à la "Johnny English" and make himself King of Britain.

[cassiepriam]

13. Blair was either bribed or threatened. That is how * does business. nt

[philly_bob]

15. Blair's loyalty to Bush is incomprehensible

I'll be glad when we find out what it's all about.

Sometimes I worry that it's because of his friendship with Clinton and his belief in a special relationship between UK and US. In which case, it's sad how his brilliant career has come apart.

On the other hand, if it's because he shares Religious delusions with Bush, or because he has some corrupt Abramoff-style corruption, or some Neocon Straussian ideology, then into the dustbin with him.

[cassiepriam]

16. No I do not think it has anything to do with Clinton.

Blair was either threatened or bribed. That is the MO of the Bush Mafia.

[cyberpj]

20. Blair is lined up for highly paid job at Carlyle Group & Bush Sr....

Tony Blair is expected to join one of the most exclusive groups of businessmen in the world after he leaves Downing Street.

The PM is being lined up for a highly lucrative position with the Carlyle Group - an American-based investment giant with strong links to the White House and the defense industry.

The firm has been nicknamed "The Ex-Presidents Club" because it has had a host of former world leaders on its books including George Bush Senior, his former secretary of state James Baker and former British PM John Major. There a also a large number of former US Army top brass.

Mr. Blair has been keeping quiet about his plans after his departure from Number 10 - which could be as early as 2007 according to some Labour insiders.

But sources in the City have revealed that he is "seriously considering" a high-profile role with Carlyle - which manages $30billion (£20million) of investments worldwide.

The job could net Mr. Blair up to £500,000 a year for only a few days work a month giving speeches and making "networking" trips on behalf of the company.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082305B.shtml

[cassiepriam]

28. Bingo, the payoff. Sold his soul for half a million a year.

Such bad karma. Killing, torturing, raping women and children.
Wonder how he sleeps at night.

[Beelzebud]

23. Nope, Blair is just another Neo-Conservative.

[cassiepriam]

29. That by definition means there will be large sums of money

and sweetheart deals for him. That is how they work.

[cyberpj]

24. see my post #20. nt

[Kurovski]

14. Beyonce looks FABULOUS!

[Justice Is Comin]

17. They really get down to it over there.

Have you ever seen where they sit on straight benches that looks something like a Steak-N-Shake restaurant and just pepper him with questions?

This ought to be fun.

[LeftishBrit]

18. I don't think he was bribed/ threatened directly...

I think he's got a messianic mission to set the world to rights. Though he would never admit it, I'm sure he would have loved to be around at the time when Britain had an Empire, and Took Up the White Man's Burden to kindly rule those Natives better than they could rule themselves. Since it's at least 60 years too late for that, he bought into Bush's imperialist mission.

Like his predecessor Maggie, to whom he sometimes has a disconcerting resemblance, he thinks he's always right and that there is a great place in the history books for him; and that the world will probably stop spinning on its axis once he ceases to be PM. He even uses similar metaphors to her - she said famously, "The lady's not for turning"; he said "My car has no reverse gear" (which sounds illegal and dangerous!) He suffers from the elected-dictator syndrome, which affects leaders who stay in office too long and with too large a parliamentary majority; and, as with Maggie, it will probably be his own party that finally makes him go.

I hope he lives long enough to discover that there is NOT a great place in the history books for him; and that the world continued to spin on its axis just as well and probably even better after he left.

Unfortunately, there is the issue of who'll replace him. There is no obvious outstanding person - and that's why he has stayed so long, despite being very unpopular for some time. At least initially, it will almost certainly be Gordon Brown, who is better than Blair insofar as he does not appear to be completely barking mad; but does not inspire me in the least.

[cyberpj]

19. He's just doing his bit to keep that promised job at Carlyle Corp with

Bush and all his cronies.


Tony Blair is expected to join one of the most exclusive groups of businessmen in the world after he leaves Downing Street.

The PM is being lined up for a highly lucrative position with the Carlyle Group - an American-based investment giant with strong links to the White House and the defense industry.

The firm has been nicknamed "The Ex-Presidents Club" because it has had a host of former world leaders on its books including George Bush Senior, his former secretary of state James Baker and former British PM John Major. There a also a large number of former US Army top brass.

Mr. Blair has been keeping quiet about his plans after his departure from Number 10 - which could be as early as 2007 according to some Labour insiders.

But sources in the City have revealed that he is "seriously considering" a high-profile role with Carlyle - which manages $30billion (£20million) of investments worldwide.

The job could net Mr. Blair up to £500,000 a year for only a few days work a month giving speeches and making "networking" trips on behalf of the company.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082305B.shtml

[Beelzebud]

22. Tony Blair is George Bush's lapdog.

[theanarch]

30. Clinton and Blain were ideological soul-mates...

...in many ways: both defined the "new" in New Democrats and New Labour pretty much the same way, abandoning post-WWII psuedo-socialism in favor of market-oriented corporatism, ditching working-class, working-poor, poor consituancies in favor of the white middle- and upper-middle class. With the selection of Junior in 2000, Blair imagined he could continue the same kind of allied relationship he enjoyed with Clinton, and six years later, has nothing to show for his efforts but embarrassment, betrayal and unrequited loyalty, not to mention a mountain of war-related debt and a pile of dead Tommies in Afghanistan and Iraq. One suspects Blair ate Bush's shit for four years in the hopes of resuming his Clinton-like alliance with Kerry after the 2004 election; but when that hope was dashed, probably decided to see his support for Junior through to the bitter, ugly end...as many have noted, at great cost to himself personally and to Labour politically. Rumors of Blair's awaiting sinecure at Carlyle may or may not be true; i suspect he wouldn't have too many post-PM opportunities to cash in, as a consultant, do-nothing board of directorships with major corporations, lucrative books/media deals, etc.