Political Suicide

[DavidUK]

Is Blair committing political suicide because of a strongly held belief (fairly rare in a politician!) or is he just doing as he is told? Please put your conspiracy theories here.

[lisaj]

As much as I'd like to criticise TB for leading us into war, what I truly admire is that both IDS and TB have put down their childish squabbling agendas and are acting truly as government and opposition through this crisis. Whether we go to war or not, we need objectivity that only a sensible opposition can bring about. With Charles Kennedy now being the only one still refusing to have an opinion on the subject (presumably from fear of being proved wrong), in my mind's eye he is the only one committing political suicide - I want my prime ministers to have the balls to stand by their convictions whatever the personal cost and TB has done just this.

[woodpam]

I'm sure his beliefs are sincere and I'm equally sure that he sees that war didn't harm Maggie or Winnie when they were PMs during previous conflicts. It is the case that P.M.s' ratings usually go up considerably as the country rallies around and therefore he does not think he is risking political suicide. He may not lose office over it but with unnecessary blood on his hands, he may lose his peace of mind.

[hexic]

it may not be the electorate that call any end to his reign, but the labour party itself, in the same way the tories cast off maggie. The labour party is still in a pretty strong position because the tories still havent got their act together. the US have made it clear they would have gone in anyway, Blair is hedging his bets that there'll be a big payoff the next time theres a trade round, or a big US arms contract up for grabs.

[brooklyn77]

Hmmm.. tough one. But in the end, one thing sprang to mind. Margret Thatcher. Its about time we had a leader who can take the bull by the horns, maggie was a true Leader of the people, and if Tony is trying to go that way, then its good for our country. Lets hope he can tackle the Immigration crisis in the same way (Fat chance i think...lets hope so though).