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| Could Blair right the wrongs of Brexit? | |
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| Your editorial (24 November) suggests that Brexit is the biggest foreign policy blunder of the modern age. Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq can still claim that dubious award. | Your editorial (24 November) suggests that Brexit is the biggest foreign policy blunder of the modern age. Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq can still claim that dubious award. |
| The consequences have been catastrophic: a rise in terrorism; the destabilisation of much of north Africa and the Middle East; the destruction of swaths of Iraq, Syria and Libya; and countless numbers of citizens of those countries killed, maimed and displaced at our hands and those of insurgents, who we spawned and for whom we were entirely unprepared. | The consequences have been catastrophic: a rise in terrorism; the destabilisation of much of north Africa and the Middle East; the destruction of swaths of Iraq, Syria and Libya; and countless numbers of citizens of those countries killed, maimed and displaced at our hands and those of insurgents, who we spawned and for whom we were entirely unprepared. |
| These desperate outcomes have contributed to the massive increase in migration into Europe, which then fuelled the nationalism that has led to Brexit and a rise in rightwing views and values across Europe. We are reaping what we sowed. The decisions of a generation of politicians have led to these terrible failures. Nothing that has happened has persuaded me there is a politician or party with the vision to get us out of this mess. I fear there are more blunders to come.Peter MartindaleGrantham, Lincolnshire | These desperate outcomes have contributed to the massive increase in migration into Europe, which then fuelled the nationalism that has led to Brexit and a rise in rightwing views and values across Europe. We are reaping what we sowed. The decisions of a generation of politicians have led to these terrible failures. Nothing that has happened has persuaded me there is a politician or party with the vision to get us out of this mess. I fear there are more blunders to come.Peter MartindaleGrantham, Lincolnshire |
| • Not before time, two former prime ministers have spoken out on behalf of the forgotten 48%, those who voted to remain in the EU. The Labour party’s official line seems to be that it would be political suicide to go against the referendum result and campaign to stay in the EU. The party has not changed its stance on leaving the EU and, unless Labour takes a principled stand against Brexit, my fear is that it will drift into political irrelevance. It is better to take the risk of going down fighting than to lie down and be rolled over. Faced with the biggest political challenge of our time, Labour cannot afford to appear to be neutral.Roy BoffySutton Coldfield, West Midlands | • Not before time, two former prime ministers have spoken out on behalf of the forgotten 48%, those who voted to remain in the EU. The Labour party’s official line seems to be that it would be political suicide to go against the referendum result and campaign to stay in the EU. The party has not changed its stance on leaving the EU and, unless Labour takes a principled stand against Brexit, my fear is that it will drift into political irrelevance. It is better to take the risk of going down fighting than to lie down and be rolled over. Faced with the biggest political challenge of our time, Labour cannot afford to appear to be neutral.Roy BoffySutton Coldfield, West Midlands |
| • Now that the chancellor has officially confirmed in the nicest possible way that the British people have shot themselves in the feet with their referendum vote, it seems to me as an expatriate in Europe for many years that you Brits need a new leader. The Conservative and Labour parties are unfit for purpose; the former because they should have never abdicated their governance with the referendum in the first place and are now in a quagmire of incompetence; and the latter because they will always bankrupt the country even quicker than any Brexit. You urgently need a new leader to pick up the mess. Why not give Tony Blair the chance to repair his past errors of judgment with a new party of unity and common sense and put Brexit in the dustbin where it belongs?Roger PeekAntibes, France | • Now that the chancellor has officially confirmed in the nicest possible way that the British people have shot themselves in the feet with their referendum vote, it seems to me as an expatriate in Europe for many years that you Brits need a new leader. The Conservative and Labour parties are unfit for purpose; the former because they should have never abdicated their governance with the referendum in the first place and are now in a quagmire of incompetence; and the latter because they will always bankrupt the country even quicker than any Brexit. You urgently need a new leader to pick up the mess. Why not give Tony Blair the chance to repair his past errors of judgment with a new party of unity and common sense and put Brexit in the dustbin where it belongs?Roger PeekAntibes, France |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |