The strange tale of Tony Blair

摘要

As this article went to press, Tony Blair's Labour Party was musing on its third successive election victory. During the campaign, politicians of all parties had conspired to persuade the electorate that the outcome was uncertain-Labour ones because they used the threat of a Conservative victory to get their supporters to the polls, Tories and Liberal Democrats because they needed hope to keep their campaigns alive. But a Labour victory was never really in doubt. The best the Tories ever hoped for was to reduce Labour's mighty majority-which they have. Up to a point, a good result for the Tories. But that this should have been the limit of their ambitions was surprising, given that Mr Blair is no longer as popular as he was. Britain has not re-elected Labour with any enthusiasm. Like The Economist, it sees no clear alternative to Mr Blair, but it has come to wish there were one.