Hating Tony Blair

President Obama isn’t the only one who wants to talk about Iraq at the
moment. The former British prime minister, Tony Blair, is publishing
his memoirs today. But instead of signing copies in London, he will be
feted at a White House dinner in his role as Middle East envoy.

His dinner date with President Obama at the Middle East summit will be
a blessed relief. In London, he is not expecting adoring crowds. A
posse of protesters who want him prosecuted for war crimes will be
waiting outside the only bookstore signing next week when he gets home.
The former Labour PM has become such a reviled figure because of his
support for George Bush and the war on Iraq that newspaper columnists
have been wringing their hands and asking, Why so much hate? The answer
seems to be something to do with the fact that he has reportedly
amassed $23 million since leaving office, hardly a capital crime in the
eyes of any American.

It’s hard to feel sorry for millionaire Blair — but where did it all go wrong? This is the guy who brought us Cool Britannia, who so brilliantly encapsulated in a few words the grief felt by a nation when Princess Diana died. He has been cleared by two inquiries of “sexing up” the intelligence on WMD before the 2003 Iraq war, and won an election despite being accused of lying to the British people about the reasons for the invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein. He has appeared — accompanied by security arrangements costing $417,000 — at the Chilcot inquiry, which is investigating U.K. involvement in Iraq from 2001. Yet still his critics are not silenced. Who can forget the moment when he was asked in 2003 whether he had blood on his hands for the death of Iraq weapons inspector David Kelly?

Today Tony Blair is a Faustian figure who says in his book, A Journey, that he weeps for the victims of the Iraq war and has donated the proceeds from the advance ($7 million) and any profits to a military veterans’ charity. But he sticks to his decision that invading Iraq was the right thing to do. He has converted to Catholicism, and promotes inter-faith dialogue through a foundation that is one of his many activities since leaving office.

But still it is not enough.

Now he wants to talk. He has gone on TV for the first time in three years to promote his 700-page book and given an exclusive interview to the Guardian. He talks about the war and about his stormy relationship with Gordon Brown, his hapless successor as prime minister who lost the 2010 election. He says he loves the Labour Party, but the book reopening all the party’s old wounds has come out just as the party votes to elect a new leader. I am left with the thought: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?”