Like him or loathe him former Prime Minister Tony Blair still carries clout and is a breath of fresh and sensible air at that when he does get time to put his point across in the news. It has been over 11 years since he left being Prime Minister of Great Britain and despite this period out of the day to day limelight when he speaks the room remains silent, and he captures the attention of all.
I can’t help but wonder how the world would be different had he remained in power and not stepped aside for Gordon Brown to take over. It is perfectly true to say the former Prime Minister made mistakes, but it is also perfectly true to say economically and socially he wore his heart on his sleeve and represented the United Kingdoms interests well across the globe.
Will he perhaps come back into government, strive to be involved with a new political party, could he even become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom once more. Personally, I can’t see if that path will develop or if he or others have the hunger for it but in many ways, I wish they would. I can see the Labour Party falling apart over European final exit deal; common sense would say they would not support the government and that they will follow the values of that party and its members which are overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in Europe. If you then add the Conservative pro-Europeans to the cooking pot, you have in my opinion enough to overturn the government and force a second referendum and all the signs are that such a referendum will with all probability reverse the result and that is why leave campaign fight so hard in the shadows to avoid it.
However, is that what the British people want? In the mainstream media you always hear and see many anti-Europe opinions but what you don’t hear as much is how many are pro-European. The bitter fact is that the referendum was so close that it should for the sake of democracy allow the people to choose the final decision. So many miss-truths were told by both sides in the referendum campaign that when the electorate is presented with a final choice of this is the deal, take it or leave it one can’t help but wonder will the voters change opinions.
So, this brings me back to Tony Blair, a man of stature for sure, a fabulous politician and clearly a man driven by his passion for a better Britain. It must be frustrating for Blair to sit in the wings and see changes within the political system and wonder what if. That is the point, what if he never stood down he would have won another term in 2010 and under his management you do wonder how Britain would have been in the recession and the subsequent crashes that followed from 2008. You can’t help feeling regret that the British people were robbed of a chance to see him at his best, Having studied him for years and have supported his values I do personally believe his greatest political hour may have been during the financial crisis and we will never know how he would have dealt with it. ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man.’
The United Kingdom of Great Britain enters into a turbulent 12 months ahead, both politically, economically and militarily, it will be interesting to see how we come out of the end. I will eagerly await to see if Tony Blair takes a more central stage, and I hope that he does, for British politics are in a dark area at this time, led by far left and far right entities and a central ground that is wide open and not represented. Generations will be relying on the judgement of a few whether Britain remains in the European Union or whether Britain leaves and no one can predict the future either side of the deadline. It is true to say Britain may regret leaving, it is also true to say it may not and may prosper, but logic states that the world has changed, and you can’t help feeling that the leave campaign focused more on colonial empire Britain than on the reality of 21st century Britain.
Economically we are entering a new era of testing times for any entrepreneur, and business leader, not only are the hardships of running a business applied but the added minefield of what if’s that have to be planned into the whole business model. Not an easy task and probably why I and many others have been losing hair, sleep and feeling more stressed that we all did this time a decade ago in the middle of the financial debacle that brought the world to its knees. Sometimes I wonder why I never stood for a member of parliament because I would have done a damn better job than 99% of the current group.
You can read more about Tony Blair and his Institute for Global Change by clicking here!
