Ealing North
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Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
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The End of an EraJuly 2007 - Ealing Times Article On Wednesday Tony Blair completed his last Prime Minister’s Questions and resigned. By the next morning I had received the first of many messages from constituents who already missed him. It would be all but impossible to describe the extraordinary atmosphere in the Chamber for Tony Blair’s last hurrah. Readers of the Ealing “Times” will already have been told that a standing ovation is unheard of in these dignified surroundings and the fact that only a couple of Liberal Democrats and Scots Nationalists remained in their seats is some indication of the emotion that crackled in the air. It is still sinking in to many people that the man who has been our PM for ten years has finally gone. Some will cheer, some will weep but no-one will be neutral on the subject of an extraordinary career. It seems reasonable to say that were it not for one catastrophic misreading of the intelligence and the subsequent descent into the bloody horror of Iraq then Tone Blair would have been remembered as a truly great Prime Minister. In politics it is very seldom that you choose the manner and the hour of your going. John Major was defeated in a General Election, Margaret Thatcher was defeated by her own MPs, Jim Callaghan lost at the ballot box and Harold Wilson had the courage to step down as Alzheimer’s started to take over that once brilliant mind. Tony Blair – undefeated – walked out of the House with cheers ringing in his ears and you would have to be a pretty mean-minded person to have denied him that. The fact that he will now devote himself to the one area that has caused him and this country the most agony seems remarkable to me and it would be hard not to see his motives as genuine and his determination to bring peace to the Middle East as worthy of respect. So the new day dawns and already Gordon Brown is having to devote his time to the foiled terrorist bomb in the Haymarket, the deadly floods and more tragic deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ministers fearing for their jobs still prowled the corridors on Friday as the final stages of the reshuffle were put on hold. The ambitious and the plain deluded stuck close to their telephones and the rest of us tried to get on with the real job of representing 80,000 constituents. From my office window I look across Whitehall to Downing Street and see the police and the politicians flowing in and out. Catching a glimpse of Gordon Brown I take a minute to realise that he is now the Prime Minister and the man who has led my Party for the whole of my Parliamentary career to date has gone. There’s a strange Autumnal feeling in the air even though the sky is clear and we are in the Summer season. However, the seasons turn and life goes on. The next Prime Minister’s Questions will be taken by the son of a preacher man and my reshuffled colleagues will, by then, have been devastated or delighted according to their fate. I hope in the months – or even years – to come to share some of the details of Westminster life and the joys of Ealing North with readers of the Ealing “Times” and I’m always happy to hear from you on stevepoundmp@parliament.uk Watch Tony Blair's last PM Question Time online: Watch in Windows Media Player Watch in Real Player Read the transcript |
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| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
