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pithets, accusing Blair of being a hawk and insufficiently cautious about the war . Meyer expressed his opinion that Blair could have stopped the war had he acted at an opportune time in the summer of 2002. This view has been criticised as naive: Simon Jenkins, for example, described it as a "folly of diplomatic grandeur" and asserted that Blair has no history of standing firm on anything. . Citing the investigation by Vanity Fair magazine, (May 2004 issue), he continued: "Blair was helpless in the face of neocons. When he set conditions, they ridiculed them. Had Britain backed out after the failure of the second UN resolution, the White House would have lost no sleep..."

The Vanity Fair article (which Paul Wolfowitz claims includes partial and mis-quotes) said that Sir Christopher Meyer was present when, a few days after 9/11, Bush asked Blair to support an attack on Hussein. Blair reportedly replied that he would rather concentrate on ousting the Taliban and restoring peace in Afghanistan. According to Sir Christopher, Bush replied: "I agree with you Tony. We must deal with this first. But when we have dealt with Afghanistan, we must come back to Iraq." Mr Blair, Sir Christopher reports, "said nothing to demur".

Personal property dealings

The Blairs moved into Downing Street in 1997. Despite wanting to keep In 2002 Cherie Blair masterminded the purchase of two new flats in Bristol, where Euan Blair was at university; one of them was for his use, and the other was a rental investment. The flats proved difficult to rent out and attracted some unwelcome publicity and political damage when it was revealed that Cherie had engaged Peter Foster to negotiate the purchase price. Foster was a convicted fraudster.

The Blairs paid a reported £3.6m in late 2004 for a house in Connaught Square, near Marble Arch. Finding a tenant for this also took a long time and they had to reduce the rent sought .

Criticisms by the left

While the Blair government has introduced some social policies seen by the left of the Labour Party as progressive, especially the minimum wage, on economic and management issues he is seen as being to the right of the party. The 2005 announcement of more independent Trust Schools , was likened to the Major government's Grant Maintained Schools policy which Labour criticised while in opposition, and was criticised by teachers' unions (traditionally left wing), as well as by the left within the party.

The use of private finance to fund public projects has also been criticised by Labour left-wingers as both an economic bad deal and as privatising public service . The Private Finance Initiative, under which public services are built by private companies and then leased back to the state, began under the Major government and was expanded significantly under Blair.

Some left-wing critics go so far as to call Blair a Conservative or Thatcherite, or even worse (from their perspective) than these. Others, however, have praised him for the same reason, given the widely perceived sorry state of the Conservative Party and the fact that Labour did not prove electable (e.g. under Michael Foot in 1983) until it publicly abandoned clause 4 of the party constitution (calling for public ownership) and sought, under Neil Kinnock and then John Smith and Blair, to steal the middle ground inhabited by a majority of voters. The whole New Labour project was designed to make the party (and its leader) appeal to (and not frighten) "middle England" and explicitly abandoned more left-leaning policies and images. Unsurprisingly, this offends the left who see no gain if Labour has power but only if it behaves conservatively and they blame Blair for epitomising this expedient approach. Shortly before the general election of 2001 The Economist gave a front cover the headline, "Vote conservative" (note lower-case "c") - with a picture of Blair.

Satire

Blair has avoided the traditional pigeonholes of British political leaders. He has often (particularly after the invasion of Iraq) been labelled as insincere ("King of Spin", "Phoney Tony"), and has been accused of cronyism due to his perceived penchant for promoting his friends to top jobs. In his early years, Blair was often criticised as an unscrupulous opportunist who was solely interested in doing anything that would get him elected, that was a focus group politician. More recently, his unpopular policy supporting the US over Iraq has demonstrated a politician with more commitment to his own policies despite public opposition. His name has been deliberately mis-spelled 'Tony Bliar' (sometimes 'B. Liar') or 'Tory Blur' by critics of his actions and his policies (particularly his stance on Iraq). The Economist on 5th June 2003 devoted its front cover to a photograph of Blair and the headline, "Bliar?".

Since Blair became Prime Minister, Private Eye has run a regular feature called the St Albion Parish News based on the Blair government. In this series, the parish incumbent ('Rev. A.R.P. Blair MA (Oxon)') combines a relentless trendiness with a tendency to moralise and to exclude all those who criticise him. The series highlights Blair's perceived penchant for spin and his zealous enthusiasms in relation to recent political events.

In his first term of office, Blair was the subject of a satirical comic strip Dan Blair in The Times. This strip spoofed the comic book hero Dan Dare and his nemesis, the Mekon, who represented William Hague in the strip, portrayed with a very large forehead. He has also been parodied in the comic 2000 AD in the series B.L.A.I.R. 1 (a spoof of the old-fashioned strip M.A.C.H.1 written by David Bishop) where he acts as a futuristic crime fighter controlled by an artificial intelligence known as "Doctor Spin".

In opposition under John Smith, the ITV satirical puppet show Spitting Image depicted Blair within the Shadow Cabinet as a schoolboy with a high-pitched voice and bottle-green uniform, complete with cap. The first show after Smith's death featured Blair singing "I'm going to be the leader! I'm going to be the leader!" over and over. Once settled in as leader, the programme, which was in its last years, changed its caricature of Blair to have a small face with an outsized toothy grin. The show ended before Labour gained power.

Jamie Foxx portrayed as a black Tony Blair in a skit from Chappelle's Show. Foxx uses a fake English accent and performed actions considered stereotypically English in America, such as drinking tea, although not especially associated with Blair.

Trivia

• Is the only head of government to ever appear in The Simpsons, after voicing himself in the episode, The Regina Monologues. This caused controversy because he recorded his part during the Iraq War.

Works

• Blair, Tony (2003). Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government Diane Publishing, ISBN 075673102X
• Blair, Tony (2002). The Courage of Our Convictions Fabian Society, ISBN 0716306034
• Blair, Tony (2000). Superpower: Not Superstate? (Federal Trust European Essays) Federal Trust for Education & Research, ISBN 1903403251
• Blair, Tony (1998). The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century Fabian Society, ISBN 0716305887
• Blair, Tony (1998). Leading the Way: New Vision for Local Government Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1860300758
• Blair, Tony (1997). New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country Basic Books, ISBN 0813333385
• Blair, Tony (1995). Let Us Face the Future Fabian Society, ISBN 0716305712
• Blair, Tony (1994). What Price Safe Society? Fabian Society, ISBN 0716305623
• Blair, Tony (1994). Socialism Fabian Society, ISBN 0716305658

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