In the Catholic and Orthodox tradition, the doctrine of apostolic succession maintains that the Church is the spiritual heir of the apostles, and that its mission and power is transmitted to the bishops through sacramental ordination, so that communion is maintained of faith throughout the centuries. In British politics, the apostle is Tony Blair who, after a decade of excommunication, is ready to regain authority and preach the commandments of an updated third way in the era of Trump, Ayuso and populisms modern
Blair packed his bags and left Downing Street in 2007, not as the loser of an election (he is the only Labor leader in history to have won three), but as discredited by his support for the United States in the war in Iraq and the corrupt, pressured internally and forced to pass the baton to its Minister of Economy, Gordon Brown. Since then, with his image diminished, he has devoted himself to acting as an influencer in international politics and a luxury lobbyist for companies and governments (including the Saudi one, despite the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, human rights violations and support for terrorism), and amassing money, lots of money, until becoming a billionaire. But in Great Britain – and especially in the ranks of the Labor party – he was wearing a cross.
But that’s over. As Labor surges towards power (they are heavy favorites in an election due a year from now, with the Tories out of gas after thirteen consecutive years in power, twenty points behind in the polls, and the economy turned to dust), Blair assumes more prominence with each passing day. He has come out of the trenches and dares to make proposals about what is best for the country to rise from the ashes, and to say what he would do without fear of being booed. While much of Europe and the world is turning the rudder towards the extreme right, the United Kingdom – which loves to be different – ??is preparing to turn towards the centre-left.
After the defeat of his successor, Brown, to David Cameron in 2010 (which indirectly opened the door to Brexit six years later), Labour’s old Marxist wing dismantled the Blairite legacy, and eventually installed Jeremy Corbyn – anti-monarchist and anti-State of Israel, pro-Palestinian and IRA sympathizer – as leader. Tony Blair’s philosophy was sidelined, gathering dust like those works of art in museum basements, its dissemination limited to the advice he privately gave to African and Asian autocrats, dictators and despots in exchange for piles of dollars. , and in the lectures he gave all over the world, except in Great Britain. Since 2007, seventy percent of the time has been spent traveling from one place to another in private planes and armored cars.
Keir Starmer, the man tipped to be Britain’s next prime minister, started out as a Corbyn dolphin but, once in power, proceeded to purge Corbynism and move towards the centre, abandoning one by one all the more progressive policies that had defended (nationalisations of electricity, railways and gas companies, increased taxes on the richest, increased state aid to poor families, a green energy fund of 35,000 million euros, the return to the single market. ..). Although in reality it is not known whether it is a philosophical change or simply a tactical one, in order not to scare anyone and by default to ensure victory in the elections. In any case, he has rehabilitated Blair, with whom he speaks frequently, and even made a surprise appearance with a gift at a dinner in a London restaurant to celebrate his seventieth birthday. Yes, seventy Nothing to do with that youthful-looking beardless guy who appeared in Downing Street with his wife Cherie in 1997, ready to revolutionize the country.
The marriage between Starmer and Blair is a perfect fit. The former exercises a ferocious control of the party, but is boring and lacks charisma and power of communication. The second is a machine for producing ideas, respected internationally, with an unbeatable agenda, excellence and gravitas. The only thing they publicly disagree on is whether or not Labor should recover the concept of class struggle, and incorporate into its program the defense of working classes that no longer exist as they used to, with the miners and textile factory workers replaced by home delivery drivers, Uber drivers, office cleaning crews and call center operators.
“The class struggle is over,” Blair proclaimed fifteen years ago, putting an end to the notion that Labor was the political arm of the British working class. “My project is to once again put the party at the service of the working class, after a time when it seemed that we were afraid to talk about class. It’s impossible to seriously tackle problems like inequality or poverty without talking about them,” Starmer said in a recent speech. Going forward, it’s a possible area of ??conflict, but for now it’s just a semantic divergence. In reality, no one knows what the new Labor leader, who has all the rocks in his belt, is thinking and getting ready to do. In addition, voter affiliation is increasingly flexible. Those who in times of crisis define themselves as workers are defined as middle class in times of prosperity. And those who voted for Boris Johnson in 2019 can change sides next year.
The Blair Institute for Global Change has 800 employees (some making over half a million dollars a year), offices in forty countries, and no qualms about offering their services to the highest bidder, however corrupt. The idea is that assisting the governance of dysfunctional or failed states, no matter how dictatorial, is in itself a positive thing. His crusade is the fight against populism of all kinds and against his idea that “all traditional parties are the same”.
From the shadows, Blair has taken the lead in structuring the pandemic vaccination campaign, pushed digital identity documents for tighter state control and offered ideas on artificial intelligence, diversity and green energy. If Labor wins, it could move the strings behind the throne. At seventy years old, with gray hair and an Apple watch on his wrist, he wants to be more than a former British prime minister. He wants to make a new edition of the third way, and sell it all over the planet.
