Political Spaff

I think the 'general opinion' is that Mr Blair is a liar and a bit of the 'bad guy' in the eyes of those who consider themselves terribly cynical of all this politics business. I, myself, have always liked the man. Whenever I actually saw/heard him speak and discuss issues he seemed to make a lot of sense, to cut through a lot of opposition-bashing and have a real appreciation for the different sides of an issue. Coming up against this was my bewilderment at his leading the country to war in Iraq, something I went up to London to shout about a bit (though I'm not wanting to get involved in those silly hippy-marches if I can help it). So, ever since then, I've been supportive of Blair against the haters, but really confused about how to understand the Iraq issue.

Today, makes me a late-comer to the crowd of Blair-booing. Boo!

The Sunday Times has a front-page article about a newly-revealed secret document from Downing Street (their security is a bit lax these days, don't you think?). It's a record of the minutes from a meeting made in July 2002. In it, it's clear the decision to go to war with Iraq is pretty much made, and that the justification and legality of this decision must be found and made later. Again, I don't like to be outrightly cynical of all that is said by politicians, in fact, I believe many are there as MPs because they have a passion for bringing about what they believe is right for our country. So, this came as a shock to me, forcing me to concede the blatant lies and manipulation of public opinion attempted by, it seems primarily, Mr Blair.

The article can be read here, and at the bottom is a link to the document itself.

I feel I support Labour and their work, but at the moment am angry with Blair and don't wish to see him as Prime Minister. It feels wrong to me to vote against a party I support just because I don't like the figurehead. The election shouldn't be a popularity contest for the party leaders. I'm left where I was before, but a little more incensed. It's between Lab and LibD for me, and I don't know which little box to mark on Thursday.