Today's headlines will do nothing for Tony Blair's reputation. Another stack of stories about Labour's secret loans, and polls confirming that voters think Blair has offered peerages for cash.
A decade ago, Blair made the political weather, punishing the Tories with devastating attacks on cash for questions and lying ministers. He derailed John Major's 1997 election campaign within days by focusing on sleeze. He promised that Labour would be whiter than white. Voters thought the days of politicians on the make were over.
But Blair has proved as a huge disappointment to anyone who trusted him to set higher standards. Within months of his first landslide in 1997 he was mired in controversy over Bernie Eccleston's Labour donation. He claimed to be a 'pretty straight kind of guy'. The evidence suggests otherwise. The mystery is why Blair - an intelligent man, who recognised that Labour had to change to win the trust of the electorate - couldn't see that claiming to be whiter than white wasn't enough. He had to prove it by his actions.
The reason is that Blair, like most politicians, has far too little contact with the real world. He should spend more time in the Dog and Duck, listening to real voters, and less time in the corridors of Westminster and the studios at Millbank.
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