Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair was on BBC 4 radio today and I want to get out my response to his interview.
Tony Blair was the first Prime Minister I ever knew, I grew up under Mr. Blair's New Labour government and I have agreed and disagreed with many of the decisions that he took as Prime Minister. I probably wouldn't be here if New Labour was still the party's standpoint because I could never serve under New Labour, having said that, what he did was better then what the Tories would of done in those years in power so it is almost like the lesser of two evils when you take those points into account.
On to the interview, his main point was that Labour should be 20 points ahead in the popularity polls and suggested that Jeremy Corbyn isn't capitalising on the problems that are facing the current government, and in theory he could be right. The Tory government is in shambles at this time, loosing two shadow cabinet members and loosing their majority two years after getting it and having a Prime Minister resigning after he lost the EU vote. I would love to see a vote of no confidence in this government brought forward by Jeremy Corbyn to force another election. I am not sure how much support and how successful it would be but I would champion that bill if brought forward to parliament.
Mr. Blair was asked about social media, how that can be used in politics and discussed if it was a threat to democracy or not.
"The interplay between social media and conventional media is often creating a situation in which it is very hard to have a democratic discourse if there is a whole lot of manipulation with fake news stories that are surrounding the public debate. The agenda needs to be explored and dealt with." - Tony Blair
His response there suggests that there is a place for social media in democratic and more labour MPs should be encouraging more active social campaigning. He seems to advocate the use of technology in politics and other key areas in healthcare will is a good response to have. I have always thought that the increase in technology and how the world is developing is a good thing. The world needs to advance, healthcare needs to upgrade with the times otherwise that would be a scary outcome if we didn't have a healthcare system that doesn't cater to its nation without funding. Technology has been a huge part of political campaigns in the 21st century and not having a social media account on all major social networks if you are a politician is not well received if you want to seem open and accessible. It is important to use all the tools at your disposal.
Another major point on his interview was about religion and war with countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia and his view was that Britain should be on the side of the westerners. He also attacked how damaging fake news could be but I would have make the point about how he used fake news on WMD to justify an illegal war with Iraq because he did mislead the country on that,
The next major part of his interview was about Euro, the UK joining the Euro and Gordon Brown's position. He said that he was in favour politically but not economically because he had concerns about a single currency and stated that Gordon Brown wanted to join the Euro. I think this is a mistake and the UK joining the EU would of been a BIG mistake for this country. I don't believe that this would of been the right thing for our country and the UK is incompatible with the Euro currency and it would be a disaster and I was happy that the UK opted out of that treaty in the EU. I believe that the euro currency is a dangerous thing for the country and what is best for our trade, business and relationships with other countries is to keep our strong (well, weaker after brexit) currency. Leaving the EU has had an impact on our currency and relationships with other countries which could put in question our future as a country which is why I backed remain in the first place.
for the full interview - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09dp4sj#play
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