Blair book: just donate the price of it to the British Legion

Peter Mandelson’s book has stolen his thunder. There’s a possible inquest and new inquiry into the curious death of weapons inspector, Dr David Kelly.

Both are clouds on the horizon of the man ‘with blood on bis hands’ who was allowed to spend a fortune in his last period in office, touring the world on vanity appearances, working to do nothing other than secure a ‘legacy’ and a continuing bit part for himself on the world stage.

The Blair agenda was always lucid – me first.

And he need never have worried. More than any other Prime Minister in living memory, his legacy is assured and indelible, though it is already less than desirable and has more miles to travel in this direction.

Now much of the potential audience for his autobiographical new age tome, A Journey,  is alert to the sort of self-serving cover story they are being asked to pay to read. Blair faces humiliation at the tills and even more reputational damage as the Hutton report into David Kelly’s death becomes ever more threadbare.

In a sick-making and typically selfish survival tactic, Blair today sought – and got – maximum national publicity for an offer to give all the ‘proceeds’ of his book to the British Legion to contribute to a sports centre for disabled servicemen.

The national media, in a rush to seize the Blair bait, announced that this offer included the £4 million advance Blair is reported to have received for writing the book. Once over this frenzy, some journalists began to question what was actually on offer – and Blair’s office has now refused to answer a detailed set of questions from the Daily Telegraph.

Among several other questions, it now looks as if the advance may not be part of the gift – and this sum forms the major part of what he will earn.

Blair hopes that this deceptive move will help to sell more books. He imagines that a gesture like this will slap some filler in his battered bodywork against the selling market when the Kelly show hits town. He is also tormented by the extent to which his cupidity has tarnished his reputation for ever. In a way, he is trying to buy redemption in the only currency he knows: cash – and less than it seems.

Never forget that Blair was the man who never once went to honour the bodies of returning soldiers killed in the wars he committed them to fight.

Never forget that Blair was the man who presided over a regime that saw  military personnel sent to fight abroad, arguably illegally in Iraq, ill-equipped and underprotected in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Never forget that Blair was the man whose administration made a mockery of the very notion of the military covenant in the treatment offered armed services personnel when they were repatriated with the most appalling battlefield injuries.

This was the reality.

Set it against the cynical spin of today’s canny announcement – not even hinted at until he was sure he had already creamed off countless millions from the seamy harvest of his activities as Prime Minister – consultancies in Libya and Kuwait, strange visits to some of the old Soviet states and, of course, huge fees for whatever is offered by the gullible yanks and the ambitious Chinese.

Don’t be naive. Let Blair give the British Legion whatever he intends, large or small – and leave this book where it belongs, in boxes not even needing to be unpacked onto the shelves.

You don’t have to gild Blair’s tin ‘legacy’ to get the British Legion some loose change from royalties.

Make your own donation straight to them.