Tony Blair in Hanoi
Posted: October 13, 2012 Filed under: Britain, News, Reflections, sheraton, tay ho | Tags: Hanoi, iraq, tony blair, vietnam 2 Comments »Apparently Tony Blair arrives in Hanoi tomorrow.
Whispers of his arrival hit Twitter yesterday with people wondering what he was here for. The answer crops up in the Vietnamese papers today, except really it just prompts more questions.
According to agenda, Tony Blair will arrive at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport at 23.00 Sunday and will have lunch and a working session with Vietnamese foreign minister Pham Binh Minh at 11.30 on Monday.
At 13.30, he will be greeted by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the Prime Minister’s Office.
At 14.35 on Monday, he is scheduled to leave Hanoi for Vientiane.
For me personally it’s a reminder that it was Britain’s involvement with the Iraq war that made me want to turn my back on the UK in the first place. Back in 2004 I met a lot of Brits, Americans and Australians who had left their countries for the same reason – I used to call them the Ashamed Drain.
I’ve just read yet another instalment of Chris Mullin’s diaries that details the build up to that war and the chief whip’s bullying of Labour MPs to get them to fall in line with Blair’s plan to back America.
I was one of over a million who travelled to London to march against it.
Britain is now saddled with a government that was brilliantly described in The Thick of It as “top hatted tw*ts”. After Iraq people I spoke to many people like me who had always voted Labour but couldn’t bring themselves to do so again, even if the alternatives were worse. Living in Vietnam made it easy to vote for no one but there would have been a time when I’d have made the effort and bullied others to do so too. My occasional protest vote has been Green.
At the time of the Iraq war I often fantasised about being stuck in a lift with Blair and being able to look him in the eye and ask him about the dossier lies and, just, why? Apparently he’s staying in the Sheraton. Perhaps I’ll see him in the neighbourhood.
When George Bush was in town there was a certain “I can feel his presence” negativity in the air. Blair is yet to touch down and I’m already getting the shivers.
I couldn’t dislike the boorish, spoilt Cameron more but being let down by Blair felt more personal.
What do you think of Chris Mullin’s diaries? He used to be an MP on the patch where I work and I interviewed him several times. He was always quite outspoken – even more so now he’s stood down. Quite an interesting character.
Agreed – I enjoy his diaries very much. So much so I actually wrote to him recently. He too is married to a Vietnamese woman so I felt a certain kinship. He wrote a very kind note back – letting slip that A Very British Coup, his wonderful book, was to be remade for TV again. Can’t wait. Very smart, decent guy.