Anders Hanson

I was going to comment on Ming’s ludicrous call for a General Election now that Blair is going, but Jonny Wright has got there first with exactly what I wanted to say.

As has been pointed out: we elect local MPs, we elect them to represent a party not a leader (if they did represent a leader, maybe all Lib Dems should have caused by-elections when Charles went), we knew that Brown would probably take over some time in this parliament, and we didn’t say this when Major took over in 1990.

When I was told about this this lunchtime, I couldn’t quite believe it was something Ming had said. I assumed it must have been one of Norman Baker’s hobby horses. Obviously not!

JONNY WRIGHT: Ming Campbell - constitutionally incoherent

So did I shed a tear?  Well no, but I confess to still being a little sad.  Blair’s resignation today showed how brilliant he is at the big occasion and how he can do a barnstorming speech that says the things that are probably right at the time.  But like so many people the big negative about Blair’s years as Prime Minister is the way he let so many people down after such a triumphant and positive feeling at the start of his premiership.

Blair has undoubtedly made some positive contributions to the country.  No Prime Minister is all bad after all.  To me these should be marked down as areas like peace in Northern Ireland, devolution, investment in public services, the Human Rights Act and a more tolerant society.  But the problem is that I can come up with such a longer list of things he’s done wrong.  Even on some of these positives, there are big negatives, for example, he may have invested in public services but it hasn’t made much of a change that is noticeable to the public.

One of the things that was drawn out in tonight’s Question Time and then by Mariella “I will defend Labour at all costs, even if it makes me look ludicrous” Frostrup on This Week, was the way the country feels more positive.  I think that may be true. People may feel negative towards Labour and Blair in particular, they may feel that certain things have got worse too.  But the country does not have that generally negative feeling that things never can get better.  The Blair legacy is less “Things Can Only Get Better” but more of a “Things Could Get Better”.  Not much of a ringing endorsement, but at least more positive than when Thatcher went for example.

I am glad that Blair is going, but it is nothing compared to the joy I felt when Thatcher went.  Perhaps that is the slightly lefty Northerner in me.  I saw at first hand how Thatcher destroyed large parts of the country, whereas Blair’s legacy is less tangible.  Perhaps that is an appropriate theme of his premiership. He didn’t achieve anything that tangible.  Something that fits in well with all his spin, which has turned negatives in to positives and lack of policy in to policy, something which has done major damage to the way politicians are perceived in this country. When it comes to substance, his major substantial action has been Iraq, but that is the major exception that proves the rule.  Typical.  The main time he goes out on a limb and does something concrete, he balls it up completely.

So next month we will see Prime Minister Brown.  I tend to agree with the analysis of some that Brown and Labour as a whole will get a lift simply because Brown is not Blair.  Brown will bring in some new faces, he will change a few policies and life will carry on as normal.  Although the opinion polls show people not liking Brown, I also suspect that once people see more of him they will start to like him a bit more.  It is quite amazing that for someone who has been Chancellor of the Exchequer for ten years, that we know very little about him as a person and what he would want to do.  That could be the making of him, as suddenly people may see him as more human and more palatable than they thought.  But don’t get me wrong, I really don’t see this as long-term as Brown will suffer from still being too like Blair, not being shiny and new, and simply taking office whilst Labour is on the downward part of its cycle.