The Spell Is Broken

In the post-Blair world, we might ask: What did he ever do?

THERE was a certain pathos about the last days of Tony Blair’s premiership. A sort of Grand Tour of Statesmanship – a visit to Africa, a swansong at the White House, one last Euro-Summit committing Britain to further loss of sovereignty – had been carefully timed and set up. An official memo leaked last year had sketched the emotional atmosphere to be created at and by these events. Its theme would be that a great star was making his exit, leaving the audience still wanting more.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Robert Conquest

In the post-Blair world, we might ask: What did he ever do?

THERE was a certain pathos about the last days of Tony Blair’s premiership. A sort of Grand Tour of Statesmanship – a visit to Africa, a swansong at the White House, one last Euro-Summit committing Britain to further loss of sovereignty – had been carefully timed and set up. An official memo leaked last year had sketched the emotional atmosphere to be created at and by these events. Its theme would be that a great star was making his exit, leaving the audience still wanting more.