Blair and the Pope
From Tim Holman Sir: Peter Oborne is on devastating form describing Tony Blair’s rudeness towards the monarchy (‘How Blair betrays the Crown’, 9 April). Jack Straw’s description of the PM as ‘head of state’ is a corker.
But what, apart from Blair’s vanity, is the big deal? The answer was provided by the late Anthony Sampson: what matters is not the power the monarchy has, but the power it denies to others. The Queen has residual powers that she cannot deploy unilaterally, but nobody else can either. The Crown in Parliament. Legislature, executive, judiciary. Checks and balances.
My main worry with the Labour government is not the state of the economy, or the thrust of its foreign policy (whatever it is), or even the court of New Labour being populated by narcissistic drama queens. Mr Oborne has coined the excellent phrase ‘manipulative populism’ to describe what is going on, but that doesn’t fully explain Mr Blair’s endless drive to concentrate as much power as possible in the hands of the executive, i.e., himself.
How to restore order? ‘Checks and balances’ isn’t a very catchy rallying cry for the election, I’m afraid, but whichever party adopts it will be assured of my vote.
Tim Holman
Brighton, East Sussex
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