Just go away, you barmy creep

I was planning to write a detailed obituary for the Blair years, but the mainstream media have expended so much energy on the subject that it almost seems like a waste of time. I have read an enormous amount of this stuff, from both left and right wing viewpoints. The most memorable phrase I came across was from David Aaronovitch, in a two-hander with Matthew Parris in the Times. Aaronovitch summarised Blair as a "barmy creep" -- and he was supposed to be arguing the pro-Blair position!

Anyway, for what it's worth, the pros and cons for the barmy creep look something like this:

PRO:

Northern Ireland: you can't take this one away from Blair. I watched last week's ceremonies at Stormont in utter disbelief.

Improved social services: but you'd have to say that the amount of money thrown at things like the NHS should have produced much better results.

The economy: yes, it's grown steadily throughout the Blair years, but does he deserve much of the credit? It would make just as much sense to praise him for Helen Mirren's Oscar, or the good weather we had in April.

CON:

Iraq: no more need be said.

Sleaze: a depressing catalogue, what with cash for honours, Mandelson, Stephen Byers, David Blunkett, Cherie's real estate ventures, and so on.

Spin: the Blair Government has been all style and no substance, sometimes with lethal effect, as in the David Kelly affair. This has directly led to a major increase in public distrust of all politicians -- which may not be a bad thing, but is surely not what Blair was hoping to achieve.

Scottish nationalism: again, not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly the exact opposite of what devolution was supposed to bring about.

Wasteful public spending: in addition to the inefficient spending of the increased funds allocated to the NHS and to eduation, we have seen money poured into the Millenium Dome, the Olympic disaster-in-waiting and the quite pointless Trident missile replacement.

Blair's attitude to the job is summed up by his decision to quit in the middle of the last week in June. This means that he, rather than Gordon Brown, will attend the G8 and EU summits as Prime Minister, which is reprehensible. It also means that Brown will have almost no Parliamentary time to establish himself before the summer recess.

As a distinguished former colleague once remarked about a difficult client, "I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire, but I might if he wasn't". Just go away, you barmy creep.