Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair has given a speech in which he excoriated the current state of the British press. Media critic Jack Shafer wants Blair, a media manipulator supreme, to give him a break.
Blair laments the escalating language of the press in which every problem becomes a crisis, every setback becomes a policy "in tatters," and every criticism is "a savage attack." He describes reporters hunting in packs like feral beasts, "tearing people and reputations to bits," and contributing to cynicism. He even bawls about bombastic pundits. Having watched Blair hammer the Tories in dozens of "Prime Minister's Questions" performances with his wit, hyperbole, and sarcasm, I can't take his paeans to civility and understatement seriously. Once in the arena, Blair is a blood sportsman supreme—teeth flashing, eyes dilated, drool pooling in the corners of his mouth.
The sketch Blair draws of the press is a self-portrait. If he's extra sore about the media today, it's probably because the BBC and the Guardian busted him on June 7 for terminating an investigation of bribes allegedly paid to Bush buddy Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan by a U.K. defense contractor.
Why did he spike the investigation? At the Group of 8 summit in Germany, Blair offered words cold enough to make the hardiest newsman shiver, saying:
This investigation, if it had gone ahead, would have involved the most serious allegations and investigations being made of the Saudi royal family, and my job is to give advice as to whether that is a sensible thing, in circumstances where I don't believe the investigation [inaudible] would have led anywhere, except to the complete wreckage of a vital strategic relationship for our country in terms of fighting terrorism, in terms of the Middle East, in terms of British interests there. Quite apart from the fact that we would have lost thousands—thousands—of British jobs.
So, I totally understand why you guys have got to do your job, but I've got to do mine. And mine is sometimes taking these decisions about what I believe to be in the strategic interests of our country, and holding to it.
By declaring that British jobs supersede British laws, Blair gives his countrymen a lesson in cynicism that all the vile hacks of Fleet Street typing nonstop for a century could never match.
Hey, seeing as Blair has voided our deal, maybe I should run for his seat as the moral candidate.