Reply #4: While Iraq is certainly the worst aspect of Blair's legacy...

[LeftishBrit]

he would not have been remembered favourably even if not for Iraq. He is known here for his ultra-managerialist policies (as I've said in another thread, imagine NCLB applied not only to education but many other aspects of life); some worryingly right-wing economic policies; restrictions on civil liberties (though we're not the 'police state' sometimes implied on DU!); and a great deal of spin at the expense of substance. His government has also been involved in some rather petty sleaze over House of Lords appointments.

He will be remembered on the positive side for one outstanding achievement - the Good Friday Agreement leading to relative peace in Northern Ireland - and he is at least not Maggie Thatcher. However, it's not true that if not for Iraq 'he would be leaving Downing Street able to make an unambiguous claim to be one of the most successful world leaders of his time and one of the most successful British Prime Ministers of all time'. He would be remembered as a very flawed and mediocre PM, who had dragged his party to the right of some previous Tory governments, and who kept getting re-elected mainly because the opposition was even worse.