Something for UK Dopers:
This is rather terrifying. Blair is not going back into politics directly, but according to this, his Institute is increasingly influential, and his ideas even more so. And he doesn’t believe in a liberal society. He believes in delivering results, and technological progress at all costs, regardless of what the public wants.
I reckon it was mostly the US press that labeled him “Poodle”. Probably not by W - the ex-cheerleader - who you felt honoured to get a nickname from, even if it was “pooty-poot” which was regrettable.
Farage and his reform party are the ones to bet on in the UK. Betcha Blair has nothing but good to say about that guy.
Derisively calling a politician someone’s “poodle” is a distinctly British tradition dating back well over a hundred years. In 1907 Liberal Party leader Lloyd George referred to the House of Lords as “Mr. Balfour’s poodle”.
Brits who disliked what was called “the special relationship” with the U.S. and cooperation with the Bush administration leading up to the 2003 Iraq war, sneered at Blair as “America’s poodle”.
Never heard Americans using the term.
Well, American’s don’t make Tony Blair’s day to day affairs water cooler / pub talk. If the British were calling him that, then likely CNN and/or MSNBC would have picked it up. Even if it were Faux, I don’t see the good in it - after all he was the first and last to cooperate.
When the French didn’t allow flyovers to bomb - I gotta think Libya - it was time to pour (probably fake or cheap) French wine down the sewers. That was definitely Faux.
W - usually attributed to (having been) head cheerleader - had a penchant for giving out nicknames. Usually somewhat flattering nicknames as it was considered a badge of honor to get one. Poodle was definitely not him.
Blair’s party now hates him. Most other parties here hate him as well. It’s hard to find anyone who has a good word to say for him.
I can say some good words about “Lord Palmerston” and “Pitt the Elder” yet I’ll let Barney and Wade Boggs fight that out.
I was disappointed to see in some recent BBC doc that Churchill’s “We’ll fight them on the beaches, etc…” was recorded 11 months later. I guess he broadcast something to the effect, yet this was a bit too revisionist for me.
David Cameron said, essentially, “Brexit is shit and I will resign if it passes” and he did indeed resign and was quite correct.
If you’re a PM in a room with W and he’s the one that looks smart, you lose.
ETA: I recall the condescending remarks Trump made in the press conference with Starmer, “What a beautiful accent. If I had that accent I’d have been President 20 years ago” which makes no logical sense, but later Trump cut off Starmer amidst answering a question. Starmer is disappointing to me - just approaching his Knighthood because he was supposedly a very good prosecutor. So what, Boris was born in NYC.