It’s academic now of course but I was always puzzled why so many on the left who were so vociferously anti-Blair were so ready to throw their weight behind a less competent version of the same man – there was no ideological difference between them at all.

Brown is just as culpable on Iraq (arguably more given the damage he could have inflicted had he so chose)

His claims on Social Justice are undermined by the 10p tax fiasco which was the elevation of political manoeuvring over principle – he did it in the knowledge it would adversely impact the poorest people. And also by the fact that he presumably sanctions Purnell’s Welfare proposals.

Indeed the only area where Brown has been demonstrably different is in the one area where he should have taken the lead from Blair – competent communication and decent political management (‘spin’ if you’re being derogatory)

Yet, talking about the real issues behind the revelation, isn’t Tony Blair right?

No Lee, Tony Blair is only half-right and is indulging in a bit more message massaging. Blair is spinning one way, Brown has tried to spin the other way and they’ve all spun round so much that they now face the wrong way.

Blair is creating the inference that the Labour record under him is spotless or at least completely justifiable, which it isn’t. So don’t swallow Blair’s half-truths whole unless you enjoy the constipation he causes.

It happens that Blair can encapsulate a crock of shit far more quickly than Brown can paint his forth bridge. As a result TB is more able to infect our consciousness, while GB never crosses over to the mainland.

The only person who’s ‘right’ in all over this is George Galloway. Brown and Blair are two cheeks of the same arse.

I can’t let that slide Leon – the only thing as ridiculous as Bush & Blair’s proposterous claims of success was Galloway’s idiotic claims of utter failure. Him & Bush are more alike that he’d ever like to admit….

Funny how now that things are picking up in Iraq Mr G is curiously silent…

Elevating the shoddy dialect of yardies and gangster rappers to the level of political discourse encapsulates the entire New Labour project really.

Nice dog whistle to all the bad man dem out there though- now they know what party speaks dere language, get me?

A well written piece, Mr Osler.

Or should I call you O-Dog? Brap!

“Funny how now that things are picking up in Iraq Mr G is curiously silent…”

But things are not picking up in Iraq. There are now more troops in Iraq trying to keep the peace than before the surge began. only 800 odd Iraqis killed last month, wow that’s real progress. You have obviously been reading too much neo con bull. The Telegraph?

The vast majority of Iraqis want the Americans out of Iraq, and as McCain showed last week “the American people don’t care what the Iraqi govt says” this issue is not going away. How long will America keep 150,000 to 200,0000 troops bogged down in a civil war?

I dunno, Sally, much as I oppose the war, I think they might be turning a corner on it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7530000/newsid_7536800/7536809.stm

Radio 4 have stopped talking about Iraq every other day too.

Until 2010, if Obama wins.

thomas: I asked the question non-rhetorically, I thought it’d be more interesting to debate the conflict of the men and the policy directions than to debate how a word reduces credibility. I however, don’t believe that I was claiming Blair had flawless policies, but then neither has what I have seen of this memo.

What Blair, or whoever, seems to be saying is that Labour is feeling the hurt of a self-destructive tendency for self-loathing over the Tony Blair years combined with a lack of vision, and an unfortunate uprising of at least appearance of vision by the Tories. The fact is that whether Blair said this or not it’s true, for all of those Labour MPs getting angry about how much this sets back the party they should perhaps first look to themselves about how they have sat by for so long and let the party meander aimlessly in to the situation they got themselves in to.

A smart party would have got their policies together, had a leadership election to fend off any kind of concerns about legitimacy that could surface in weak times, and launched together and whole with a real vision…especially given Brown and co should have known the economy would be turning and thus what sort of things to be offering (i.e. not a removal of the 10p tax rate and unavoidable tax rises on older cars)…then once having had a year of solid performance under a new leader they could then have started to talk up how different they are to Tony Blair and the dangerously right wing policies (of course forgetting this 42 day bollocks) and forged ahead for a fourth term. Instead they’ve done everything in reverse with as much added irony as their little arms can muster to heap on to the pile.

I thought the sentiment of the memo was spot on, does anyone really have anything to bring to the table as to why it is not, or is it just going to be irrational anti-Blair, omg Iraq, hour?

Apologies, Lee, I didn’t mean to suggest you supported Labour’s record, but to agree that the statement is technically correct is not the same thing as saying it was correct to make the statement in the first place.

Blair is a clever politician because he can conjoin issues very quickly and simply – here he has defended his own record by attacking Brown – which means he divides the audience on his terms, and however much his opponents try to unwind the false dichotomy we find it difficult to avoid facing the forced choice of equally unpleasant options he presents us with.

I agree that Brown is strategically maladroit, particularly because he cannot escape the baggage he collected on the journey, but Brown has much of my sympathy for at least he struggles with the burden of carrying them even if he daren’t unpack them.