One of the happiest days of my life was 2nd May 1997 when I saw a beautiful sunrise but better still the end of 18 years of Tory rule.
I knew that the Labour government of Tony Blair would not be a socialist one because I was – and remain – unconvinced that a hardline socialist agenda would be palatable to the British people and ‘New Labour’, whatever that meant, was the only game in town.
The left wing sloganising of the 1970s and early 1980s took Labour to the brink of oblivion and it’s no wonder that today the name Tony Benn is so revered, particularly by those on the right of the political spectrum: he was one main architects of the fall of Labour.
And there was precious little socialism under Blair. Hospitals and schools improved markedly under Labour and living standards improved until the international banking crisis of 2008.
One of Blair’s failings was taking us to war.
In 2001 he led us to war in Afghanistan and two years later the disastrous intervention in Iraq which has probably destabilised the Middle East for the long term. It took the invasion of Iraq that led me to hand in my Labour Party membership but time has shown that the war in Afghanistan was no more successful.
453 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan and many more were injured, often horribly so. The invasion has cost at least £19 billion (some claim it’s double that) and Afghanistan is still a lawless war-torn country.
I suppose no serving politician is going to say it was all a waste of life, a waste of time and a waste of money, but it surely was. It gives me no pleasure at all to say that but what other conclusion can you draw? There is no doubt that our armed forces are among the best and most professional on the planet and I feel for the victims and their families.
Politicians will say the right thing about our brave armed forces but, as ever in war, they also have blood on their hands. Blair, who wrecked any legacy he might have with his warmongering, has been washing his hands in blood for years.
Has not the current mess in Syria come about, or at least been accelerated, by the chaos in Iraq and Afganistan? We are not involved this time, other than to offer advice, whatever that means, and by bombing insurgents. No boots on the ground, yet.
Prime Ministers like their wars. Every one since Jim Callaghan has taken us to war one way or another and Cameron has wanted his for a long time. He was stopped getting heavily involved in Syria by the House of Commons last year but I doubt whether his air war will yield the results he desires. You can’t bomb your way to peace.
At least the troops are coming home from Afghanistan and we should be grateful for that. But was it all worth it? I’m in the 68% of the public who say it wasn’t.
