The Spectator’s Notes | 12 May 2007

Tony Blair gives a date for his departure. Many say that he would have been able to stay if he had not supported the war in Iraq. But what would have happened in British politics if he had opposed the war? He would for the first time have been the prisoner of the Left. The same voices in his party who ensured electoral humiliation with their support for unilateral nuclear disarmament in the Eighties would, along with the Euro-fanatics, have captured him. The Conservatives, given an opportunity at last, would have argued that, in the end, Labour can never be trusted to maintain good relations with our most important ally. The main international blame for the fracture between America and Europe would have fallen on Mr Blair, and the war would still have taken place. His mission as Prime Minister has been consistent — to make Labour the natural party of government.