Blair eulogies

On 10 May 2007, Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel, sent this message to Tony Blair as he was making his resignation speech in Sedgfield:

"Don't desert us… You have been a great friend to us. You may be leaving 10 Downing Street, but we don't want you to leave us. (You are) Israel's best friend in the world outside President George Bush… The whole of Israel will be sorry to see you go."

On 10 May 2007, US President George W. Bush said this:

"I will miss Tony Blair... I have found him to be a man who's kept his word...

I'll miss him, he's a remarkable person and I consider him a good friend."

On 10 May 2007, former US President Bill Clinton said this:

"Tony Blair... modernised his country's... approach to social problems... and started the global Third Way political movement.

His decade of leadership leaves the people of the UK better off economically, more socially just, more respected for world leadership, and well-positioned for the future. I am glad he was there and grateful for our friendship."

On 10 May 2007, President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso said this:

"Tony Blair has taken Britain from the fringes to the mainstream of the European Union".

On 10 May 2007, NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said this:

"Tony Blair was a leader with a capital L, not a politician who looks at opinion polls first and decides what he is going to do but a leader who leads and I think for me that is the most important feature I could mention about Tony Blair.

Despite resistance he thought this was the right course for Great Britain and he did. We all know that Iraq caused a split in the Security Council and the European Union and NATO but, right or wrong, this was Tony Blair thinking that this was the way."

On 11 May 2007, in an article titled: Best Friend Israel and Jews Ever Had in Downing Street, The Jewish Telegraph eulogised Tony Blair thus:

"We will rue the day when Tony Blair is gone… Without equivocation or fear of challenge, Jews and Israel have never had a better friend in Downing Street…

He had already shown empathy with the community's needs as shadow home secretary, before assuming the party leadership in 1994… Long before forming an important partnership with Michael Levy, who he later ennobled and appointed as Middle East envoy, Blair regularly attended Labour Friends of Israel functions.

Lord Levy's fundraising has been probed by police and the extent of his peacemaking role has often been questioned. But Blair had his own contacts and was never afraid to make friends with Israeli leaders from across the spectrum.

He has been strong and consistent condemning antisemitism, praising the Community Security Trust…

One of his most impassioned speeches defending Israel was delivered last year in Los Angeles - against the backdrop of the Lebanon war. 'The purpose of the provocation that began the conflict was clear,' he intoned. 'It was to create chaos, division and bloodshed, to provoke retaliation by Israel that would lead to Arab and Muslim opinion being inflamed, not against those who started the aggression but against those who responded to it.'

It used to be said that Harold Wilson was a close friend, James Callaghan understood Israel, Margaret Thatcher really empathised with the community and that John Major was always available to help Israel. The only premier who could be relied upon to be awkward was Edward Heath.

But it is Tony Blair, who has been the most consistent, thorough, warm and effective. HE WILL GO DOWN IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY AS THE BEST FRIEND ISRAEL WHO EVER INHABITED NUMBER TEN. THE COMMUNITY AND ISRAEL WILL RUE THE DAY WHEN TONY BLAIR IS GONE."

On 11 May 2007, Uzi Gafni, Director of the Israel Government Tourist Office in London, said this in The Jewish Telegraph:

"Mr Blair has been a wonderful friend to Israel… The average Israeli has an extremely high opinion of Mr Blair. They see him as being a good friend of their country."

And so they should. Blair was, indeed, a very good friend of Israel.

He was also a very good friend of Bush-led America, Rupert Murdoch, globalism, the immigrant hordes, the banksters, the biggest of big businessmen, his own wallet and, to some extent, the Scots.

He wasn't a friend of the English people though. Our Dear former Scots-Irish Leader took the p*** out of us something chronic. Nor was he a friend of Iraq and Afghanistan. Or the truth. He and his 3,000-odd spin doctors were mortal enemies of that old, unfashionable thing.