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Bush, Blair and the Press
Last year British publication THE ECONOMIST featured a cartoon of Tony Blair and George Bush facing fire over the quality of intelligence cited in making the case for war with Iraq. Blair takes all the arrows while President Bush remains unscathed. (View the cartoon.) The row over the BBC's coverage of the Prime Minister's use of intelligence eventually led to a public inquiry and public battle between the venerable news institution and #10 Downing Street. (Read more about the BBC/Blair debate and the ensuing Hutton Inqiury.)
Although the Hutton Inquiry report was much tougher on the BBC than Mr. Blair, public opinion seems to have stayed on the side of the BBC and the press. Why is the British public and press giving Prime Minister Tony Blair such a hard time over the question of weapons of mass destruction while in front of the American Congress Blair received 17 standing ovations?
As common as stereotypes of the British stiff upper lip and unemotional demeanor are, just one viewing of the debates in the House of Commons shows that the British can be quite boisterous and irreverent. They are quite unlike the usual decorous U.S. Congressional hearings.
Even more unlike U.S. practice is "Prime Minister's Question Time," which is the appointed time when the political leader of the nation has to defend his or her policies to the intensive questioning of the House of Commons.
Tony Blair has had quite a rough go during Question Time whenever the subject turns to Iraq. He's been grilled about the reliability of pre-war intelligence at great length. And opinion polls show that the British public is most angry about the idea that Blair misled their elected leaders in making the case for war.
Tony Blair has only to look back fifty years to find a worrisome precedent. Just months after the end of World War II, Winston Churchill, the backbone of Britain, was unceremoniously dumped from power by a landslide. Time will tell for Tony Blair.
Experience Question Time:
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