Welcome Prime Minister ...Goodbye, Tony!

Sorry to stick on the same topic as my last post but today saw the formal resignation of Tony Blair as Britain's Prime Minister and the formal installation of Gordon Brown as his successor. The TV of course devoted much coverage to the constitutional procedure for all this and quite fascinating it was too.



The reporters commented how much difference there was between the departure of a Prime Minister in the UK and the departure of a President in the United States. Of course there is the clear distinction that the British Prime Minister is not Head of State but in terms of power, his writ runs at least as powerfully within his own domain.

This particular handover was unique however. Previous resignations have either been because of the loss of a General Election (John Major the most recent of those) or having been forced out of office by one's own Party (Margaret Thatcher being the most recent of those). In this case Tony Blair, partly due to the generosity of his Party at last September's Party Conference deciding not to force his hand, was in a position to resign on a date of his own choosing. Thus it was the most civilised and relaxed handover for many years.

To many outsiders, particularly Americans perhaps, the British system for changing leaders appears very brutal, even given such a peaceful transition as today's. Tony Blair drove to Buckingham Palace in the official armoured Prime Ministerial limousine to inform the Queen personally of his resignation. Thirty minutes later he emerged as plain old Tony Blair, the official limousine had gone and he and Cherie departed for Sedgefield, Blair's Parliamentary Constituency, in a private Vauxhall car. Gone was the entourage of security men, though of course some security would still be there given the climate of the times and the dangers of terrorism. But basically it was 'Come in Prime Minister....Goodbye Tony'. Some thirty minutes later, the reverse happened. Gordon Brown and his wife drove to the Palace in a private car and, after a much longer audience with the Queen, drove back to Downing Street in the official limousine with hordes of security agents in tow.




So Britain has a new Prime Minister and the old one has been despatched with courtesy but minimal fuss. He doesn't retain any honorary titles or some kind of official retinue..he is just plain old Tony Blair, and perhaps thats how it should be.

Which brings me to a constant teeth gritting bugbear for me when I hear people, mainly those who want a change of Government, claiming that when a British Prime Minister resigns or retires there should be a General Election. NO NO NO ABSOLUTELY NOT!! These people seem to have no grasp of our constitutional position. As I said earlier, the Prime Minister is NOT President of the UK. He is the first among equals chosen by his Party. In this country we do NOT directly elect the Prime Minister..we elect the Party of which he is a member. If that Party has enough Parliamentary seats , its leader can go to the Queen and ask to form a government. From that point on, the ruling party can legitimately change its leader..and our Prime Minister..any time it wants to. Of course any new leader would have to again go to the Queen out of respect for the Monarch and say he or she was still in a position to govern, but there is absolutely no requirement, certainly legal or, in my opinion, moral either, to go to the country in an election.

So what now? Mr Brown made a hesitant start when he spoke to the Press outside Downing Street but I suspect this is because he is not a media man like Blair. He is an intellectual and a doer. I suspect the hesitancy will not extend to his decision making.

And what of Tony Blair? It is suggested that he is to be given the role of Middle East envoy and while I think his talents as a conciliator are considerable, I fear that this role will throw up tremendous opposition in many Arab lands. He was the joint architect of the Iraq war and also backed the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon last year. I wish him well, despite my angry renunciation of our role in Iraq, and I wish him success in this new job, should it be his. Blair does have a talent for getting people together and heaven knows the disparate forces at work in the Middle East need all the help they can get.

Britain has a new Prime Minister, a new direction, a....or have we heard it all before?

Today Gordon Brown became the formal leader of the Labour Party, endorsed at a special conference in Manchester by a toothy grinned and sincere sounding Tony Blair. 'My friend for 20 years' oozed Blair to a man with whom he has been at daggers drawn for the majority of his Premiership, too scared of the fall-out to sack Brown from his job as the most powerful Chancellor of the Exchequer in modern British politics.



But Blair soon exited the stage and it was time for the new leader, who becomes Prime Minister formally on Wednesday, to hold centre stage. He talked about a new direction, a return to party politics, to a situation where Government took notice of Parliament and where Parliament heard the voice of the people. He talked about policy forums in Constituencies all across the country actually meaning something. He talked about a new degree of accountability to the British people and how a wave of change would sweep the nation under his leadership.

After 20 minutes of this my head was spinning. I was grinning wildly and reaching for the telephone in a Pavlovian dog reflex to phone Labour's Membership dept and rejoin. Everything I ever wanted - accountability, reference to the electorate, humility in the face of the public wish. Quick how soon can I sign u...ah now wait a minute, haven't I heard all this wind of change, you can trust me, I'll be more accountable, new Britain stuff somewhere before? Ah yes, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair I do believe said something similar back in 1994 and what happened to him? He became the biggest control freak since Thatcher and Parliament and his cabinet were treated as an afterthought.

Oh well it was a nice speech while it lasted. Put the pen away and go back to sleep!!

We must not pander to the bully

The furore surrounding the knighthood awarded to 'Satanic Verses' author Salman Rushdie seems to be continuing apace with all the 'usual suspects' burning British flags and taking to the streets in loud and vociferous protest. Mufti Muhammad-Bashir-ud-in, head of Kashmir's Islamic Court, has demanded that Queen Elizabeth, the Prime Minister and the whole British establishment apologise to the Muslim world for this 'insult'. Good grief, whatever next? He'll be wanting Bono's autograph before long!

Last night I heard Baroness Shirley Williams, a woman for whom I have long had the greatest respect, argue that the knighthood was wrong because it was 'insensitive' and stirred up a lot of Muslim anger. Well I'm sorry Shirley but on this occasion I disagree completely.

Whether Rushdie's contribution to the literary world justified a knighthood is a matter of opinion. Some people say his books are impenetrable, others that his 'Midnight's Children' is one of the finest pieces of 20th century writing.



But that's not the point. The Honours Committee has made its decision and the one point to clarify is whether Rushdie was given the knighthood either because of 'Satanic Verses' and/or because someone in Whitehall wanted to provoke the Muslim world. Clearly, I believe, neither of these things is true.

So, assuming that knighthoods are given to those deemed worthy,whether we all agree with the judgment or not, the question is whether we should take the religious and cultural sensitivities of others into account before the award is made and my view is absolutely not.

If as a rational human being in the modern world you ask yourself who committed the greater sin, Rushdie for writing a book which mocked some of the beliefs of Islam, or the response it brought where a man was forced to live in fear for his life for over a decade, there can only be one answer. Yet Baroness Williams and many others seem prepared to continue pandering to these extremists.

I have no wish to upset Muslims, Buddhists, Jews or any other faith but neither am I prepared to stomach giving in to demands as soon as a few demonstrators scream slogans and burn British flags in Kashmir and other strongholds of Islamic fundamentalism. Books have been written in the past which have upset other religions. The Roman Catholic church was upset by 'The Da Vinci Code' and even more so by the book that spawned it,'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail' and made many protests about the content of both.

The difference is that Torquemada and the Inquisition are no longer part of Catholic ideology. The Catholics are peaceful in their demands and thus can be ignored. Half the Islamic world is still living by 14th century codes but, with respect, that's their problem. If the Muslim world wishes to be treated with respect then it should respect the rights of others. As long as the extremists hold sway, burning flags and demanding hangings of people who have offended them, then I would suggest their demands be treated with the contempt they deserve.



Baroness Williams and others mean well but the more you pander to a bully, the louder and more offensive his demands become

The grass is always greener....

I have just returned from a touring holiday in Germany and it made me think how easily we in Britain always see the shortcomings of our own nation and point out the wonders of others, often with minimal justification.

We always view the Germans, in particular, as in the vanguard of go ahead, progressive development while we in Britain stumble on in our own slow and inadequate manner. Well to some extent the Germans are technically go ahead. I stood inside a toilet in Bonn watching the toilet bowl with amazement. Now this is not some weird and horrible fetish, just a reaction to having been told to ensure I got off the seat before flushing and I wondered why. The answer, on pressing the flush button was astonishing. A fierce blast of water filled the 'loo' to the brim while two brushes emerged from hiding inside the bowl and began to scrub vigorously. At the same time the plastic seat on which I had been sitting began to revolve and, as each section reached the back near the tank, it was sprayed with disinfectant and then cleaned with a sponge until the seat came to rest in its original position. The whole show was worth the 50 cents I had paid.



On the larger scale though, especially when you are driving 2000 miles, you are grateful for a nation that keeps its freeways open, even if lanes are closed for repair. Britain manages to do that, Germany does not. On at least four major autobahns, the road was closed completely forcing two or three miles worth of heavy commercial traffic onto small country roads where the long distance signposting was virtually non existent. So if you are driving from Kassel to Leipzig for example, as I was, expect to be stuck in a monoxide filled queue of commercial vehicles for a considerable time before being filtered off onto some country road where you can see heavy lorries stretching for miles ahead of you. You then have to know where Kelmstedt, Grosswhechsungen and Friedrichstal lead you to because there sure as hell ain't no detour signs!



Germany, you're terrific with your toilets....traffic management 2 out of 10 I'm afraid. Could do much much better!!

The true measure of a nation?

I sometimes think that the true measure of how a nation sees itself is best reflected in the views of the populace, the hoi polloi, the great unwashed who are never consulted about anything but only vote anonymously in TV contests.

Last week, Britain held a 'nationwide poll' (always sounds impressive) for the 'Greatest Living Briton'. Well, of course apart from Old Ma Windsor there was an impressive list of possibilities, scientists, surgeons, athletes, politicians of all hues but what did the TV audience choose?



In first place - and surely there would have been reverberations through the whole of our society had this not been the case - HRH Queen Liz. However our national beloved figurehead just shaded it by 5% from - Robbie Williams? Huh? Like whats all that about? The former 'Take That' singer polled 33% of the vote to Liz's 38%. In third place, trailing behind with only 15%, was Lady Margaret Thatcher.







Only 15% but in third place. I can't stand the woman but I think it's an amazing achievement for a Tory leader to still be so fondly remembered, 17 years after she last held office by what was , essentially, a working class vote. And she was remembered because she created the illusion of appearing to make Britain 'Great' again with her testosterone based approach to the Falklands, her implacable resistance to the Trade Unions and her single minded, but ultimately self-defeating, stance on European unity. I think she was a disaster but, to a country which had seen its influence waning year on year, she was a breath of fresh but illusory air.

Maybe that explains Robbie Williams too. A working class lad from Stoke-on-Trent who has conquered audiences everywhere he has sung, and who represents what a Briton from humble beginnings can do with the right amount of drive and a modicum of talent.

I think the British are searching for what and who they are right now. The nation has changed amazingly in twenty or thirty years and it is a shock to the older establishment to discover we have kids here from all sorts of cultures and racial backgrounds who not only know nothing about our 'gallant lads' of two world wars but couldn't give a shit either. We need an identity, swimming around as we are talking about citizenship lessons for new immigrants, trying to establish what 'Britishness' now is. There are so many people in this country who want us to be something in the world. Its just that there is no consistent view of what that should be and how to achieve it. Blair had his chance and blew it on being Bush's lapdog in Iraq.

Until we sort it out and who should inspire us, I guess we'll go on voting for Lizzy, a rock star and a faded politician who was capable of mixing it with the best of 'em. Just sad that she never seemed to make the right choices...and that's been Britain for the last forty years.