Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Trial of Tony Blair

This is a re-up in conjunction with the post above.

If you haven't already enjoyed The Trial of Tony Blair below, then do treat yourself to this excellent bit of wishful thinking



The Trial of Tony Blair

Television puts Tony Blair on trial

In a new TV drama, the Prime Minister is brought to account over the war in Iraq. James Rampton meets its creators

Tony Blair is hunched over the basin at his posh new home in Connaught Square, central London. He is cleaning his hands with soap – at first gently, then more and more furiously. His wife, Cherie, appears at the bathroom door and watches her husband's actions with increasing horror.
Like a man possessed, he is now scrubbing with a scarily obsessive vigour. Two words spring to mind: Lady Macbeth.

Set in 2010, Alistair Beaton's drama envisages a Britain in which Blair (played with a messianic glint in the eye by Robert Lindsay, who also incarnated the Prime Minister in A Very Social Secretary) has finally and very reluctantly ceded power to his arch-rival, Gordon Brown (Peter Mullan).

This Blair is fixated on securing his legacy, declaring that "The world needs me, as Britain once needed me. But I've done Britain, Britain's sorted. I've outgrown Britain. I need a bigger stage now."

But his obsession with establishing his place in history blinds the former prime minister to something much more serious: the imminent threat of being indicted on war crimes charges in the Hague for leading his country into an illegal conflict in Iraq.

As Blair tries frantically to shut out the increasingly disastrous news from Iraq, he begins to be haunted by victims of the seemingly endless war there. In one particularly chilling scene, he has a nightmare that he is carrying the corpse of a young Iraqi boy killed in the fighting. As the aforementioned "Lady Macbeth" scene demonstrates, this is a man with a lot on his conscience.

The Trial of Tony Blair taps into the deep vein of public dissatisfaction with the war. Whatever the Prime Minister's protestations to the contrary, it is the catastrophe in Iraq that will be his legacy.

I am on the set of The Trial of Tony Blair at Loseley House, a splendid 1562 country pile outside Guildford, which is doubling for Chequers. I am watching a tense scene in which Brown agonises over whether or not to block the indictment of Blair. Extras dressed as police patrol the grounds, and a props van on the driveway is filled with protestors' placards proclaiming: "Tony Blair: war criminal, no matter where he lives."


















15 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Tony Blair is an actor."

http://youtu.be/fJuNgBkloFE

Anonymous said...

Linda Blair's brother?

Himself said...

Must be some Yanky Doodle or other.

Himself said...

"Tony Blair is an actor."

Not quite the words I would have chosen.

Anonymous said...

If you turn on TV, all you see's a bunch of what-the-fucks
Dude is dating so-and-so, blabbering 'bout such and such

Anonymous said...

http://news.sky.com/home/politics/
article/16236904

Protester Storms Blair's Leveson Hearing

As Mr Blair looked on, the protester said: "This man should be arrested for war crimes. JP Morgan paid him off for the Iraq War three months after we invaded Iraq.

"They held up the Iraq bank for 20bn dollars. He was then paid 6m dollars every year and still is from JP Morgan six months after he left office. The man is a war criminal."

Himself said...

Good morning Maren, I'm still coming to, I've just fell out of bed.

I was in time though, not to see it live, but to a clip someone tweeted.

More tea!

Himself said...

If you watch it again, keep your eye on Jay.

Wry smile?

Anonymous said...

Teacher Leveson puts pupil Blair in his place.

“You’re entitled to say what you want, but you should not feel it necessary to answer somebody else’s points.”

As for Jay, yes there’s something, as if he can hardly suppress a smile, observing the situation and Blair. A striking contrast with Blair’s contrived performance.

Anonymous said...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/
Rupert-Watch-Tony-Blair-L-by-
Michael-Collins-120528-207.html

One thing we can conclude is that Tony Blair felt the urgent need to justify his behavior with Murdoch. He must be very afraid of something.

Himself said...

Thank you, as I say, I missed most of yesterdays proceedings, as I have today, not tuned in to Leveson as of yet.

I shall do so now for an hour as I get ready. Ma'ma and library day.

Anonymous said...

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/
uk/police-and-cps-to-decide-
whether-to-charge-david-
lawleywakelin-the-intruder-who-
burst-into-leveson-inquiry-to-
accuse-tony-blair-of-war-crimes-
7799718.html

“When I spoke I could see Blair in the corner of my eye. He looked surprised and shocked but it was interesting that he immediately had a response. For him to react like that makes him look even more guilty."

Lawley-Wakelin, who launched a similar attack during an episode of Question Time on the BBC, said: “It’s fantastic that we live in a country where you can do something like that without being shot or locked up and tortured.”

He said: “I believe very strongly that Blair should be arrested himself. I believe it’s wrong to invade another country for their oil.

“I will keep going with my campaign to get Blair indicted before the War Crimes tribunal. I will keep going in the hope that one day he gets taken down.”

Himself said...

“I will keep going with my campaign to get Blair indicted before the War Crimes tribunal. I will keep going in the hope that one day he gets taken down.”

It's never going to happen though, is it?

Anonymous said...

No, I don’t think so, but we may count ourselves lucky that we live in a country where you can do something like that without being shot or locked up and tortured.

Anonymous said...

Tony Blair is a psychopath who should be in a padded cell says Arundhati Roy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Y7ykCIpNk&feature=share