27 June 2007.

MP PAYS TRIBUTE TO “OUTSTANDING” PRIME MINISTER

As Tony Blair prepares for his last day in office as Prime Minister, Stafford’s Labour MP David Kidney has paid tribute to his achievements. He says that Mr. Blair has been a world-class statesman:
“I know that we MPs must constantly look forward and work hard to secure a bright future for our country, but I hope constituents will allow me to take a few minutes to reflect on Tony Blair’s ten years as our Prime Minister.

“Mr. Blair has been successful in bringing peace, development aid and practical support to many parts of the world. In particular, he fought hard for, and won eventually a peace settlement for Northern Ireland. He deployed our troops to Sierra Leone to restore a legitimate government there in place of an anarchy that allowed rebel troops to cut off the limbs of boys to stop them joining the government’s armed forces later. He committed us, alongside other NATO members to the protection of nearly a million people in Kosovo under threat of ethnic cleansing. Currently, he is calling for action in the Darfur region of Sudan where millions of people are displaced, hungry and harassed by marauding armed gangs.

“Here at home, Tony Blair’s strong partnership with Gordon Brown has been the foundation on which we have created a stable and successful economy. No other comparable country can claim, as we can, continuous growth for ten years alongside low levels of inflation, interest rates and unemployment. With a strong economy, the Prime Minister has been able to press ahead with measures to tackle pensioner and child poverty, to introduce and regularly uprate a national minimum wage and to help hard-working families balance their work and care responsibilities. He has also directed the huge investment in education and health. 

Although the war in Iraq has dominated the debate over Mr. Blair’s legacy, I would hope people will agree that there are many positive aspects of his tenure of office on which to judge him. He has proved to be an excellent Prime Minister and a first rate statesman of modern times.”