I have no time for Blair, but "Islamist",Akenaton, is not some kind of synonym for "Islamic person". "Islamist" has a fundamentalist, extremist connotartion as the term is used politically. Blair was quite right to use Islamist in that context, and equally right to amplify the remark by explaining the meaning of the word, as "people perverting the meaning of Islam", to his way of thinking.
   I am reminded of an Afghan friend of mine, who is a very devout Muslim, and believes in all the stuff: the 70 virgins in paradise, chop the hands off thieves, kill people who leave Islam for Christianity. But he, most endearingly, refers to the Islamist young Pakistani hotheads in England as "fucking Moslems". This term is used by many mainstream devout Moslems. It doesnt imply hostility to Moslems, naturally, the term is used by devout Moslems themselves. "Fucking Moslems" means "extremist". As does "Islamist" to Tony blair, and anybody else discussing these kind of politics.