Prime Minister Tony Blair's foreign policy has failed -- and it's largely the fault of his inability to influence the Bush administration, according to a leading British think-tank. The Chatham House report has reignited a debate over Britain's relationship with the United States and Europe.
And Blair made a huge mistake in backing the war in Iraq, according to analysis by Chatham House formerly the Royal Institute for International Affairs. The group says Blair failed to coordinate a European response that might have tempered Washington's actions. The analysis concludes that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a "terrible mistake" leading to what it calls a "debacle" that will have repercussions on policy for years.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett calls the report "ridiculously wrong." The report's author was Chatham House's outgoing director, Victor Bulmer-Thomas.
Of Blair, Bulmer-Thomas said, "I think on Iraq he was weak, because he went along with the Americans and was unable to alter the course of war in any significant way…. And going around the Middle East now, to try and shore up his legacy, isn't obviously going to make any difference at all to the way in which the world views him."
The report highlighted what it called the sacrifice -- military, political and financial -- that Britain made in helping the United States, for which it had received little in return.
The report reads, "Tony Blair has learnt the hard way that loyalty in international politics counts for very little." It goes on to note that while its relationship with the United States may be "special" to Britain, the United States has never described it as more than "close."
Speaking in Dubai, after leaving Israel, Tony Blair said he had not read the report, but he defended his close alliance with Washington.
The Chatham House report was not completely damning of Blair's foreign policy, noting that his commitment to issues such as climate change and debt relief in Africa will form some kind of enduring legacy. But it says that it will never be possible for him to escape from Iraq as the defining feature of his 10 years in office.
And looking more broadly at Britain's foreign relations, the report concluded that Blair's successor, whoever that is, must forge a closer relationship with Europe, even though many Britons feel as much skepticism towards Europe as they do towards the United States.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAzMjM2NDYzMDEyMzc1Njk5NjAxNzY3OQ001))
