I’ve met people at political events who seem otherwise normal, and then Tony Blair’s name is mentioned and their eyes light up in a way that suggest a chemical reaction has taken place in their brain. Likewise whenever the former Labour prime minister is mentioned online, it’s like a hand grenade has been thrown into the loony pond. Up they all chirp on social media, announcing how the war criminal must be sent to the Hague one day.
The most recent case was Tony Blair’s offer to fund Labour candidates at the election, and the decision by two of them to turn it down; in both constituencies, Northampton North and Dundee East, Labour are close behind an incumbent party and really need the money, especially as the election will be the closest in decades.
Neither has given a specific answer but the reason bandied around is that Blair’s cash is ‘blood money’ because of the work he does for various unsavoury leaders (who may have tortured the odd religious fanatic) as well as his invasion of Iraq.
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