Thanks for the cheque, Mr Blair

I have been a little frustrated today by the response to the news that former Prime Minister Tony Blair is to donate all of the money from his autobiography to the Royal British Legion. Even he admits it is to support the amazing work done by those who serve in our armed forces. And so the media ask - an act of amazing generosity or a plea for forgiveness?

In my view those who oppose and opposed the war will never forgive Blair. If this is his way of making up for what he did, it won't work. And why would a man which such political skill as Blair think it would? I know we live in cynical times but ...

So it leaves me to conclude that, just for once, I want to give Tony Blair the benefit of the doubt. That he wishes to do some good with his auto-biog and for it not to be seen as a way of cashing in on his political career. Just think fo what that money could do for the RBL and all of our service people that it works with.

I haven't lost a loved-one in conflict so I cannot imagine how they feel. But would they really want the RBL to go without what could be a £4m+ donation?

I know it's hard but can't we just thank Mr Blair, cash the cheque, and get to work providing for those people who have made sacrifices for our country?

LibDem one trick pony looking increasingly desperate

A while ago I argued that the LibDem foxes were one-by-one being shot and the party would end up clinging to Iraq as their last desperate piece of political populism. Nick Clegg must have thanked his lucky stars that so much time and media coverage has been dedicated to the "5 years since the Iraq war" stuff, because its the only way he's made headlines since being elected (well, positive headlines anyway ... he got those ones about the EU Referendum, remember!).

The Iraq war is something that the electorate seems to have moved on about (judging by the response on the doorsteps in Norwich and from other colleagues around the country) and yet the LibDems don't seem to have.

So instead of formulating a really exciting policy idea - like removing failing schools from LEA control - they launch a website reminding people who voted for the war (see here). The sad thing is that it pretends not to be a LibDem front and no matter which MP you have or how they voted, you are encouraged to print off an anti-Tory poster to display in your window to remind you about Conservative support for the war, rather than the government who led us into conflict. So, they've managed to achieve a very rare political double act.

They've managed to look utterly irrelevant AND shown how desperate and scared they are of the Cameron resurgance.

Spin & Brown

It doesn't matter what you think about the Iraq War or the future of our troops in the region, you have to question the judgement of a Prime Minister who promises to reject spin and put parliamentary back at the centre of political life and then re-arranges a visit to Iraq and announces troop reductions to the media not MPs.

Brown has sunk lower than even I thought imaginable with this one. He has broken his word (again) and played politics with the armed forces.

If he goes to the country on 1st November I really hope that 10 years of New Labour spin will be rejected and Gordon will be turfed out.