Robert Harris on Tony Blair

Two quick editorial pieces on the Prime Minister by author and columnist Robert Harris, as a supplement to the post below.

1. From last July, an overall assessment of "Blairism":

"Blair's role in all this will be debated for years after his premiership is over. Was he merely the symptom of this revolution, or its cause? Had Labour been so traumatised by its four successive defeats that it would have been clay in the hands of whoever came along to lead it? Or is there something unique about Blair that has bewitched it, and at the same time has so disorientated the Tories that they have suffered a kind of collective nervous breakdown? I incline to the second explanation."

2. This morning's column, warning Labour on the consequences of pushing him aside:

"...it is a thoroughly bad idea for a minority party cabal to bring down an elected prime minister. The Liberals did it to Asquith in 1915 and never gained power again. The Tories did it to Thatcher in 1990 and have since suffered three successive election defeats - a calamity previously unknown to them for 95 years. Now Labour, like a chimp examining a loaded revolver, shows alarming signs of the same casual attitude to its political extinction."

All of which bolsters the main thesis: Tony Blair will be around awhile yet. Gordon Brown, of all people, is likely to see to that.