I AM BECOME SHIVA...

So how will he be judged? (Collated by Esther Addley, May 15, 2003, The Guardian)

Clare Short said in her resignation speech that Tony Blair was 'in danger of destroying his legacy as he becomes increasingly obsessed by his place in history'. But if he did step down today, just what would posterity record about the prime minister? We asked eight prominent historians for their verdict.

Ian Gilmour

I think Tony Blair will gain a small niche in history for having revived the Labour party and won (at least) two elections with landslide majorities.

More generally, he will be remembered for having dragged this country, or rather followed the US, into the most discreditable war Britain has fought for at least a century and a half. He will also be remembered as the prime minister - among a lot of competition - who has been most submissive to the US.

I agree with Clare Short that he should not be called George Bush's poodle. No self-respecting poodle would have Bush as its master. Rather, he has been Bush's lackey. [...]

Mark Almond

Enoch Powell said: "All political careers end in failure." Short's swansong emphasised Blair's lack of candour with his colleagues and the public. Much of the prime minister's appeal rested on the claim that, "I'm a pretty straight sort of bloke." When his time in Downing Street ends, loss of trust in Blair personally is likely to carry over into the death of faith in politicians in general.

Despite two landslide victories, the Blair effect on politics has been to promote apathy and disillusionment. By stealing the Conservatives most radical Thatcherite policies - war and privatisation - while offering the left nowhere to go, Blair's period in office could be seen in retrospect to mark the death of British politics. [...]

Michael Burleigh

It was a relief to learn that Short was not routinely consulted on any of the major issues of the time. It is anyone's guess what Blair's place in history will be. So many historians; so many histories.

Political historians will debate the relative importance of Blair and his Tory predecessors who pioneered the liberalisation his government now seems to be abandoning. Enterprising PhDs should patent the title Tory Tony before others use it, since I can foresee much in that predictable genre.

It's always pleasing to see the conventional wisdom congeal around something you've been saying for years, right down to the unfortunately not patented name. What Mr. Almond calls the "death of British politics" is in fact the murder of the Labour Party's socialist ideology; it was premeditated; and it was effected by Tony Blair. Part of the collateral damage from this "crime" is the death of the Tory Party, which has been supplanted by Mr. Blair's conservative Labour Party. For achieving this remarkable double murder, if for nothing else, Mr. Blair will have to be judged a historic figure. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 15, 2003 10:35 AM