No love all in Levy/Blair tennis match

Tony Blair must be some kind of rotten chum to his friends. When the going gets tough, let them hang out to dry. When they fight back, call them liars. It's all a bit pot calling the kettle black. Blair's been dissembling since his schooldays. It seems to be an inherent character trait. Those at Fettes with him felt a sensible distance was required at times, otherwise they too could be hauled up in front of the Headmaster. Gordon Brown came to believe that he couldn't trust Blair's integrity. No doubt, Blair felt likewise. It had long gone past the point where the dog was chasing its tail. The tail had a life of its own!

Blair first got to be friends with Michael Levy at a Jewish fundraising dinner party in 1994 and they eventually ended up as tennis partners. Levy is better known now as Lord Levy, chief fundraiser for Blair's New Labour organisation. I have no doubt that in the ten years since his enoblement (granted by Blair in 1997), Levy and Blair chatted about Brown, amongst others. I do not disbelieve Levy. Not because I have any reason to, but because Blair's denial sounds so hollow.

I would say that Blair said to Levy that he believed Gordon Brown “could never beat” David Cameron at the polls. That has more than a ring of truth in it. Lord Levy wrote in his memoirs that Tony Blair “told me on a number of occasions he was convinced Gordon ’could never beat Cameron’”. He said the former premier felt he could have won a fourth term had he not stood down last summer. All this rings true for me.

Many journalists will attest to the fact that the Blair/Brown relationship was mostly a tense one. John Prescott has openly said he had to mediate between the two. Blair's weak and limp denial makes Lord Levy out to be a liar. I very much doubt that. Levy has been angered by the way he has been allowed to be humiliated in the cash-for-honours scandal. However, he has hit back by revealing truthful statements rather than fanciful concoctions.

So I have no time for Blair, a serial dissembler. What I find vaguely interesting is that on reception into the Roman Catholic Church, Blair must have been told about certain credal values. He appears to have ignored bearing false witness whilst in the Anglican Church. I trust his mentors in his new spiritual home now have gently reminded him of this commandment from Moses' tablets!