Ex-Labour MP in blistering attack on Tony Blair: 'His dream of being EU president is OVER'
TONY Blair has been targeted by ex-Labour MP Austin Mitchell in an astonishingly vitriolic attack which calls the former Prime Minister's integrity into question in a series of highly personal insults.
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Writing in the Daily Mail he said: “His great ambition of becoming president of the European Union became impossible.
“It was a non-job for which he would have been perfect, given his skill in making beguiling promises without too much substance.“Instead, he went off to a career of greedy money-grubbing, appearing in public mainly to defend his war in Iraq.
Either the mighty had fallen, or the lost leader had found his true level, depending on your point of view
“Either the mighty had fallen, or the lost leader had found his true level, depending on your point of view.
“Either way, it was sad to see such a powerful politician devoting the rest of his life to justifying his position on a failed war.”
Mr Mitchell said Mr Blair had been a “great actor, with a barrister’s ability to present any case and an eloquence that turned promises into aspirations rather than commitments” who had squandered the opportunities offered to him by his record-breaking 1997 general election victory.
He said he called him "Britain’s Great Leader, the Kim Il-sung of Downing Street".
Mr Blair swept to power in 1997 as Labour won 418 seats, the highest proportion held by any party in the post-war era, making him arguably the most powerful Prime Minister in history.
However, Mr Mitchell said: “He had few Labour instincts. The ‘Blair Revolution’ was in fact a brochure for a mixture of modernisation, meritocracy and better public relations.
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“With a huge majority and enormous goodwill he could have done anything. He did all too little – but made it glossy.
“It made him the most successful Labour leader but also the most tragic waster of opportunity.”
Despite his political allegiance, Mr Blair had failed to boost manufacturing, build houses, rebuild regions struggling as a result as result of industrial decline, Mr Mitchell said.
Mr Blair's office has been contacted for comment.