T. G. Ash (The Guardian): How will history judge Blair's foreign policy?

[Jack Rabbit]

From The Guardian Unlimited (London)
Dated Thursday March 30

How will the ventriloquist's dummy of History judge Blair's foreign policy?
In the Foreign Office's strategic plan I see a face of Britain that I can be proud of - were it not for Iraq
By Timothy Garton Ash

To make a considered, durable assessment of a historical achievement, you have to know the consequences, but those consequences (unintended ones as much as intended) may not be known for decades. And the larger the figure or event, the longer the timescale (1989 did change our view of 1789). None of which has ever stopped anyone making the attempt. For while some things (eg consequences) can only be seen properly from a distance, others (eg motives) you can often see more clearly from close to. Anyway, it's fun.

So let's play the guessing game. How will History - that old ventriloquist's dummy - judge Blair's legacy in foreign policy? When he goes, will he and his governments have left Britain with a better name in the world? My preliminary judgment is that he deserves to have and he should have, but I'm not sure that he will have - and this for one reason only: Iraq.

Take away Iraq, and I submit that the record of the Blair government in foreign policy would be overwhelmingly positive. Take away Iraq, and many of those who are deeply hostile to or cynical about British foreign policy would be more or less favourable to it. This includes many continental Europeans who, until the beginning of the Iraq war, were rather impressed by Blair's Britain. (In a recent Mori poll, 29% of Germans gave "foreign policy" as one of their reasons for taking an unfavourable view of Britain.) It includes many Muslims, not least British Muslims, who until 2003 would have credited Blair with a positive approach to multiculturalism, intervening to defend Albanian Muslims against Christian Serbs in Kosovo, and trying to secure a viable state for the Palestinians. It also includes Canadians, Australians and liberal Americans for whom Blair was something of a hero.

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