A riveting read

It is spookily appropriate that I read Chris Mullin’s splendidly candid and revealing 2005-2010 diaries in the aftermath of the Blackberry riots, where dysfunctional families are a popular topic of conversation. Because, in the final death throes of Tony Blair’ faltering tenure and Gordon Brown’s psychiatric episode at Number 10, they were running a dysfunctional government spawn from an ungovernable party.

The wonder of Blair was his ability to tell people what they wanted to hear. They would leave The Presence feeling warm and fuzzy. But when the Blair high had worn off and the reality hangover kicked in, they would ask themselves if they had been promised anything at all. This was best summed up by that old Gromyko of the Labour Party, Jack Straw:

“Tony’s like a man who says I love you to seven, eight, nine, or ten women and they all go away feeling happy until they start to compare notes”.