This is a nomination for the Bright Green #dick2010 award from Jock Barge. We’ve had Tony before, but figured we’d publish this anyway, as befits his ego.

Tony Blair – former PM, dick about the world

For me, I think it still has to be Blair. Whilst this may not seem the most topical of nominations there are two enduring reasons he is as relevant as ever;

The first, of course, is Iraq. Such is the enormity of this crime, that I feel it would be hard to believe had it not just happened – and indeed this use of the past tense is inacurate here; a further 4000 people lost their lives to violence there in 2010. This year has seen both Blair and Bush staging earnest attempts to rehabilitate their roles in causing the war,and it is a perpetual reminder of how far we are from the kind of county we would want to be that the posibility of a prosecution remains so remote. No civilised society can remain ignorant about its own crimes, and there is no greater opponent of the truth about this conflict than Tony Blair.

The second is that he more than any other individual bears responsibility for the abscence from the UK of a genuine labour movement. I’m 25 years old and it’s therefore hard to piece together a fully coherent picture of a movement as long dead as Old Labour – but I do know that for all its flaws there was a time when the way we were governed allowed for Tony Benn to become a cabinet minister. Blair is largely responsible for how outlandish that now seems, and for the fact that the leaders of all three main parties are now constructed in his image to an uncanny degree.
He is the godfather to both Cameron and Clegg, and almost nothing comes out of their mouths that you could not imagine him saying.

For these reasons Tony Blair remains Dick of the Year.