5 Responses

1. Peter says:

   November 27 2013 at 9:03 am

   You have seen through his comments and actions. 15 years too late, but you have now seen the light. Well done!
   • Richard Murphy says:

     November 27 2013 at 9:47 am

     Many of us saw through Blair many, many, many years ago
2. Andrew Dickie says:

   November 27 2013 at 9:45 am

   Richard, I have elsewhere re-phrased this question as “Is Pope Francis a Catholic?”, (See more at: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2013/11/26/this-is-some-pope/comment-page-1/#comment-674233), because there’s little doubt that Tony Blair is a “form” Catholic, but it’s starkly open to doubt whether he’s a “content” Catholic (see my discussion on the difference in the post referred to above), especially in the mould of Romero and Pope Francis.

   For me his going over to Rome was one of the most contemptible decisions he ever made, not, I hasten to add, because he took the decision to become a Catholic – everyone has to right to freedom of conscience.

   No, my objection to it derives not as to its sincerity (as Queen Elizabeth l said “I will not have windows to look into men’s souls”), but as to the manner, and the timing of it, and the implications thereby to be drawn.

   As to the manner, this is the man who, as Party Leader and PM, mocked “ideology” (even implying it was over-theological, and hair-splitting, as in the manner of the various factions of the Left) and said ideology was less than useless, an impediment in the way of searching out “what works” – never, of course, noticing, like the racists who make offensive jokes to black people, and then accuse those offended of having no sense of humour, that his “non-ideology” was actually profoundly ideological, grounded in a neo-liberal interpretation of human and economic behaviour. Why then not be satisfied with remaining the Anglican he was, if ideology doesn’t matter? By going over to Rome he showed that ideology DOES matter, and so implicitly contradicted and invalidated his whole approach and modus operandi as PM, conversely validating the arguments of his opponents – all without any apparent awareness of the contradiction! Highly indicative of the totally unreflective personality he has displayed since leaving Number 10, there being no better example than the setting up of his preposterous “Tony Blair Faith Foundation” – the hubris and self-aggrandisement of such a title being self-evident.

   As to the timing – why did he wait until he had left Number 10 before becoming a Catholic? There is nothing in our constitution preventing a Catholic from being Prime Minister, and any attempt to suggest that is either totally misguided, or betrays a hint of a “Caesar” complex, since the only bar on Catholics is that of rights of succession to the throne – e.g. Princess Michael of Kent’s son, Lord Frederick something or other became a Catholic on marriage, and had to surrender his – very distant – rights of succession.

   So, he could have become a Catholic while still PM – and I would have respected him had he done so – but he chose to wait, I would argue because he knew it would have the effect on his arguments against ideology, noted above, and also out of timidity and lack of conviction, and willingness to be open about his beliefs (I still recall his flushed embarrassment at being asked by some interviewer whether he prayed, to which he responded with gold-fish like gulping, instead of saying that, as a Christian of course he prayed, and after doing so, he then set to to tackle the problems and issues before him. And he was just as evasive about his neo-liberal credo!)

   So, is Tony Blair a Catholic? In “form”, undoubtedly, but I would strongly question whether he is in the “content” now being developed and displayed by Pope Francis – all far too “Liberation Theology” for our Tony.
   • Richard Murphy says:

     November 27 2013 at 9:52 am

     You summarise my intent very well
3. William says:

   November 27 2013 at 11:38 pm

   The circle C could equally read “The Gospel according to all known witnesses”.