What Tony Learned Next

[Guest]

Even from the start of the New Labour Project it was clear that Tony Blair cared very little for the socialism that he'd aver bedevilled Labour's electoral chances.

He was also at the fore-front of those who kept hitting Old Labour with the mantra that 'Business has much to teach us'

And it appears that Tone has carried on learning from his new pals

According to the Daily Telegraph:

"Official accounts show a company set up by Mr Blair to manage his business affairs paid just £315,000 in tax last year on an income of more than £12 million. In that time, he employed 26 staff and paid them total wages of almost £2.3 million.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8999890/Tony-Blair-and-the-8million-tax-mystery.html

[handsomefortune]

cared very little for the socialism

unfortunately, some local labour councillors also care very little for socialism..... it's about time they called themselves 'neo liberals', and stopped giving socialism a bad name.

doubtless tony and cherie do cost an absolute fortune in unpaid tax ... but i suspect their spending habits are pretty high, just in order to blot out the chaos/civillian deaths they leave behind them, as practising 'christians' - (my hat)!

however, 'windrush' is an aptly named company for those inclined to make things up for their own convenience. 'firerush' perhaps lacks imagination in comparison, but as the torygraph suggests the real deal is hidden by tony's limited partnership company, which may well induce burning stomach ulcers, if someone actually had a conscience.

he could always copy tory 'big soc' ideas, pretend his orgs are 'not for profit'?! though ironically this may effect tony's status as a desireable guest at charity events. the larger charities prefering dodgy celebrities, over and above people who might threaten charity audiences with their good example, or worse still, with their sense of socialism!

who's the other limited partner we wonder ..... ?

[antongould]

Although not as bad as the level to which Tony has taken it we still remember hereabouts the Dan Smith and Poulson days from the very heart of Old Labour. I have personally known some supposedly Old Labour Politicians who were very cosy with relatively big business.

[Old Grumpy]

Shouldn't this thread be headed - What Tony "earned" next

[amateur51]

Shouldn't this thread be headed - What Tony "earned" next

[Serial_Apologist]

Although not as bad as the level to which Tony has taken it we still remember hereabouts the Dan Smith and Poulson days from the very heart of Old Labour. I have personally known some supposedly Old Labour Politicians who were very cosy with relatively big business.

All part and parcel of the diminution of democratic accountability within organised labour - unelected (or only elected by committee) then overpaid officials self-cushioned against pressures from their contituencies hob-nobbing business deals was already commonplace by the early 60s - as "Our Friends in the North" briliantly retold.

It was a shame (understatement of the day!) those of us on the left fighting for the restored democratic accountability in the LP and tu's that would have ended such practices were tarred (should I still use this term?) by all the media with the brush of "communist infiltration".

[Lateralthinking1]

My original gut instinct against Labour was not particularly unusual. It emanated from:

1. Having a working class family background that was not wholly for Labour. My Dad's family were Labour and had been in council housing with public sector jobs. My Mum's family were Conservative and had been in privately rented housing with very small businesses. Both my parents had moved more to the right largely because of home ownership but also because the Conservatives supported my father's work in the public sector. Now they spoil their ballot papers but think about UKIP.

2. Seeing the utter mess in this country in 1979 and how that affected ordinary people like my grandmother. Labour didn't represent in any way their natural constituency, other than the confrontational. They were booted out to the stench of uncollected rubbish accumulating in London tower blocks and the fear of being knifed in stairwells below graffiti strewn walls.

In the 1980s, I acquired understanding of the Chartist and trade union movements as well as Labour's achievements in 1945-1951. The Wilson era seemed a mixed affair, residing somewhere between the successes of firebrands like Jennie Lee - ie Open University - and early Blairite style corruption - ie honours for Marcia Falkender and the bloke with the Gannex raincoats. Musicians suggested in the Thatcher era that Labour could again be the answer. I believed them - most are now millionaires - and I was also taken in by Kinnock who initially seemed like Nye Bevan. By 1992, there was a very left wing strand to my liberal social democratic leanings.

In the mid-1990s, I had some interesting discussions. One manager, a Tory, told me that I was too young to have an informed opinion. If I had been able to recall all of the detail of the Wilson Governments, I would have a more realistic worldview. This I dismissed on account of the fact that, among other things, he was overtly racist. A colleague of my own age whose family had been Labour councillors for decades was absolutely adamant that Labour had never been a socialist party. He was offended by the very suggestion. No, Labour, he said, was Labour. I thought he was a bit of a nut case and didn't take his comments on board.

New Labour showed that Labour was not a socialist party. It was also corrupt in a way that was reminiscent of the worst parts of the Wilson era. My colleagues had been right. I had been wrong. The shock and sheer sense of betrayal throughout the Blair years was immense. Some have argued that New Labour was the natural successor to the SDP. If so, thank goodness they were never elected. But I find it hard to believe that is what they were. To me, they were Conservatives to the right of Macmillan. The influence of Margaret Thatcher had been such that the entire framework had been shifted.

Many would grow into their thirties believing that anything to the left of Blair was utter madness. I thought them crackers and felt sad about their greed and conformity. Then, under Brown, there was the abandonment of long term pledges to me and my colleagues. One of the most left wing unions also abandoned the most vulnerable for the sake of defending those just above that line. That is the truth about Serwotka and his cronies. So yes New Labour and Old Labour have both been dire.

[antongould]

Indeed power corrupts.........but thankfully not all! But big question for a small thread is the "real" left ever going to be a force in UK politics again?

[Serial_Apologist]

Indeed power corrupts.........but thankfully not all! But big question for a small thread is the "real" left ever going to be a force in UK politics again?

I guess I'm too old now........... Someone came up and recognised me at the last demo I went on (against the Iraq war); the fact I didn't recognise him probably indicates how dispersed my generation of radicals has become. Best to patiently reiterate the ideas and principles long held that haven't been disproved, for all I briefly thought, and they'd have you believe, but had strongly reinforced...

[Richard Tarleton]

According to an extract from a new book on the Queen featured in today's Sunday Times, apparently she thought Tony was in the wrong party. Presumably she thought he was really a Tory.

[Flosshilde]

however, 'windrush' is an aptly named company for those inclined to make things up for their own convenience.

Hasn't he any sense (or mknowledge) of history? http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british...drush_01.shtml

[Old Grumpy]

Interesting reading if you go digging!

[MrGongGong]

Hasn't he any sense (or mknowledge) of history? http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british...drush_01.shtml

Bumsrush more like

[Richard Tarleton]

Hasn't he any sense (or mknowledge) of history?

I remember him revealing in an interview that he had no idea who Mossadegh was - for younger MBers, he was the Iranian democratic ruler deposed by the CIA in 1953 in favour of the Shah when he had the temerity to nationalise Iran's oil supplies. And people wonder why people dislike the Americans, and us.

Whatever TB reads when holed up in his suite in the King David Hotel, it certainly isn't Middle Eastern history.