vincent, i wouldn't want to excuse tony blair for anything - mostly because with his huge majorities he could really have made a difference to the way this country operates. His great achievement was in funding and running public services well but even then the ppi initiative has been a long-term headache for the nhs. iraq war a terrible decision and degrading for our country. there is little that uk governments wouldn't do to lick american arse. had we stuck with the germans and the french, and theUN approach it would possibly have done a great deal to improve our standing in europe and the rest of the progressive world. Anyway, the tories would never support peace or reason and of course the liberals would never stand on a principle. any attacks from then on Blair are complete hypocrisy