Tyndale: The return of the viral strain that is Tony Blair

Sep 7 2010

LIKE swine flu, we knew it was coming.

But unlike H1N1, the emergence – or rather re-emergence – of the viral strain known as Tony Blair has proved far more toxic.

Swine flu caused a few coughs and sniffles but the much-hyped publication of the former PM’s bitter memoirs has been like a pestilence befalling the country.

Over the past week, there has been no escape from the Blair virus.

The debilitating condition induces denial, delusion and empty laughter in its manipulative carrier while those hapless victims laid low suffer outbreaks of projectile vomiting, fever and spreading paralysis.

Blair’s book will go down as one of the greatest testaments to self-aggrandisement and petty bitterness ever witnessed in the notoriously egotistical world of publishing.

As vanity projects go, the memoirs, called A Journey, will take some beating.

In one fell swoop the book finally sweeps away any shred of dignity the ex-Labour leader may have had following his tardy departure from Downing Street.

With his reputation in tatters following the instigation of a misguided and illegal war, the mismanagement of the economy, turning a blind eye to mass immigration and fudged welfare reform, here was an opportunity for Blair to show some humility – or at least make a gesture towards atoning for past crimes.

Instead, the multi-millionaire property investor and public appearance junkie has merely reinforced the popular view of him as a man driven by self-interest. A Journey gives us phony Tony in all his unexpurgated loathsomeness.

This is not, as Blair would like us to view him, the stuff of a statesman. It is the vitriolic bile of the playground bully. He’s a bully at a very exclusive and expensive private school.