Tony Blair
Source: The Telegraph
John Burton, Mr Blair’s political agent in his Sedgefield constituency for 24 years, says that Labour’s most successful ever leader – in terms of elections won – was driven by the belief that “good should triumph over evil”.
“It’s very simple to explain the idea of Blair the Warrior,” he says. “It was part of Tony living out his faith.”
Mr Blair has previously admitted that he was influenced by his Christian faith, but Mr Burton reveals for the first time the strength of his religious zeal.
Mr Burton makes the comments in a book he has written, and which is published this week, called “We Don’t Do God”.
In it he portrays a prime minister determined to follow a Christian agenda despite attempts to silence him from talking about his faith.
“While he was at Number 10, Tony was virtually gagged on the whole question of religion,” says Mr Burton.
“Alastair [Campbell] was convinced it would get him into trouble with the voters.
“But Tony’s Christian faith is part of him, down to his cotton socks. He believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone – Iraq too – was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better.”
Mr Burton, who was often described as Mr Blair’s mentor, says that his religion gave him a “total belief in what’s right and what’s wrong”, leading him to see the so-called War on Terror as “a moral cause”.
“I truly believe that his Christianity affected his policy-making on just about everything from aid to Africa, education, poverty, world debt and intervening in other countries when he thought it was right to do it.
“The fervour was part of him and it comes back to it being Christian fervour that spurred him into action for better or worse.”
Mr Burton says that inherent in Mr Blair’s faith was the belief that people should be treated fairly: “He applied that same principle in everything he did – from establishing the Social Exclusion Unit to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and ridding Iraq of the evils of Saddam Hussein’s rule.”
The comments will add to the suspicions of Mr Blair’s critics, who fear he saw the Iraq war in a similar light to former US President George W Bush, who used religious rhetoric in talking about the conflict, as well as the war in Afghanistan, describing them as “a crusade”.
Last week, Donald Rumsfeld, the former US defence secretary, was accused of sending the Mr Bush memos during the Iraq war that featured quotes from the Bible alongside images of American soldiers.
Anti-war campaigners criticised remarks Mr Blair made in 2006, suggesting that the decision to go to war in Iraq would ultimately be judged by God.
Categories: Europe and Australia, Islamophobia