Blair not quite out for the count!

So Tony Blair suffers his first defeat in the House of Commons since becoming Prime Minister. And on a measure he staked his reputation on! His style has been that of the cocky know-it-all, bruisingly using bullies to get his own way. Now the Labour party is beginning to strike back.

Blair sounds like a shrill preacher on terrorism. Those of us who believe his arguments are flawed, are less than studied, and have an element of control about them, are dismissed as closet traitors! This is of course rubbish, but he never has thought debate mattered. It is the result that is important to him. Clare Short was right tonight when she said no Prime Minister can act alone. This is not a dictatorship but a parliamentary democracy.

The 50-plus rebels now have a taste for rebelling. They will do it again. This is the beginning of the end of a premiership that will have a historical legacy of spinning and subterfuge. And the Iraq War will cloud the desire of New Labour to have a legacy wrapped in the memory of "winning" three elections!

Have a vote in my November poll. The runners and riders are listed here!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/03/the_cabinet/html/default.stm

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