Politics is a dirty old business, so we shouldn’t be surprised to find Europhiles who despise Tony Blair for Iraq buoyed up by his anti-Brexit campaign. And yes, you can count us among that number.
He certainly has no pure-white steed to ride into battle, but if he can stir up those jaded down-at-heel troops who have all but given up the fight, then perhaps there’s still a chance that disaster can be averted.
The trashing of his new campaign is already following predictable lines. Blair haters of a Brexit persuasion are playing the man, not the ball: ignore his arguments, they say, and remember his crimes. Diehard Brexiteers, whatever their position on Iraq, say he’s yesterday’s man and is ignoring ‘the will of the people’.
The reality is that Blair is asking for nothing more than that ‘the people’, who voted roughly 50-50 in the referendum, be given the full facts about the likely outcome of our divorce from Europe so that they can, should they wish, decide to stay in.
There’s nothing remotely undemocratic about that.
With Labour hopelessly split and Tory MPs a bunch of sheep, hurrah for a campaign that’s bound to generate both heat and light. We Remainers may at last get some soundbites to compete with those braying Brexiteers, and perhaps rather more airtime than Corbyn & co have managed.
So stand by for some excitement – and have you noticed how gabbily unnerved Johnson, Duncan Smith and Farage have already become? First blood to Blair!
Lady Thatcher's Wink 