Please make yourself a cup of coffee, take a few minutes’ break, and read this truly excellent article

Published: July 29, 2014 at 10:27am

tony blair

And please don’t say “Oh, but it’s The Daily Mail.” No, it’s the British historian Dominic Sandbrook. Read it, and listen to some bells ring.

The only difference is that ours is the Primark version – he’s short, graceless and inarticulate, and he’s not the prime minister of a major state. But within those quite serious limitations, he is doing exactly what Blair did, has the same seriously negative personality traits and character flaws, and you know – you just know – that he is already organising his post-political life and income, even if it is in 10 years’ time, that this period as prime minister is just the preparatory stage for some post-office “whoring himself around” (Sandbrook’s description).




23 Comments Comment

  1. steve says:

    For Pete’s sake Daphne, who would pay two cents to see/hear Muscat ‘whoring himself around’ ?

  2. Newman says:

    “He belongs, I think, to a long and dishonourable political tradition: the posturing populist who puts his own interests before those of the nation.” A perfect description of Joseph Muscat.

  3. Manuel says:

    “…and far from being remembered as a symbol of youthful innocence, he now seems the incarnation of spin, sleaze and naked self-interest.”

    Muscat managed to achieve this in just one year in power.

  4. Patrik says:

    What I can’t understand is how Labour managed to build the same kind of personality cult around Muscat. With Blair you can understand it. He is charismatic and well spoken with immaculate manners and he was a fresh face to British politics when entering the scene. Few positive adjectives applicable to Blair can prefix Muscat.

    Then again, I get the impression (speaking as an outsider here) that the personality cult is somehow inherent with Labour and they need a leader which they can rally around, in true socialist form.

    At least it’s a breath of fresh air to read such a critical view of a former political leader in a major newspaper (even though it’s the Daily Mail). When does that ever happen here.

    • La Redoute says:

      Blair was widely seen and heard in person. He was – quite literally, at times – all over the shop.

      Muscat’s public appearances are very carefully stage-managed. We see rather alot of him but, because the raw material is so primitive and unpromising to the point of being positively (ahem) repulsive, we rarely hear him except when it is unavoidable: rallies, interviews on selected media (the medium is the message: “I’m important so I’m on CNN), smart ass comments to Maltese media aimed at shoring up populist support (“hekk, sewwa qallhom Gowzef”), etc.

      In all ways that matter, he is otherwise unseen and unheard because he is socially gauche, has serious hangups about being physically unattractive, lacks leadership qualities, and is nowhere near as insightful and well-informed as his position demands. In short, he fits the third world puppet prime minister stereotype, right down to the self-flattering but unconvincing public image engineered for domestic consumption.

  5. Kif inhi din? says:

    Both Blair and Muscat exhibit narcissistic personality traits and resort to similar deceitful tactics to achieve their goals. That’s where the similarity ends.

  6. The Observer says:

    And what shall we refer to him then? “Missier Malta Mkissra?”

  7. one of us says:

    And they both have pushy wives!

  8. Alexander Ball says:

    Labour only got in because they ditched socialism and Murdoch backed them.

    It should have been John Smith for PM but for his untimely death.

    Blair later became Catholic. Go figure.

  9. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Attakk fahxi fuq il-persuna ta’ Tony Blair, eh Daphne?

  10. Eddie says:

    If it took a country like U.K., the epitome of democracy, three legislatures and more than 15 years to see through Blake, how long will it take Malta to see through Muscat?

  11. Eddie says:

    Sorry mistype. Blair not Blake

  12. Jozef says:

    Blair, Schroeder and a bunch of other lefties on Azerbaijan’s payroll.

    Cherie Blair partly responsible for Regione Toscana’s draconian laws on what foreigners can and cannot buy.

    The nineties had resulted in hamlets gentrified beyond recognition. Neo-colonisation by a patronising, ‘caring’ left.

    In the end it was about how hypocritical it was to impose swimming pools, golf and gated communities disrupting a rural fabric, outpricing everyone else out of the market.

    Come to think of it, we got two Cherie Blairs.

    • La Redoute says:

      Blair and Schroeder were supposed to be at that Silk Road promotional event in Guiyang, which is why Muscat was so excited at being summoned to read out Xi Jinping’s speech.

      Except that Blair and Schroeder didn’t turn up, so Muscat had to make do with John Prescott.

  13. xejn b' xejn says:

    Thanks Daphne, the article is truly remarkable and worth not only reading but examining.

    Keep on doing what you do because you are our voice.

  14. komodo says:

    Ha ha ha dephneeeeeeeeeeeeee fadalek xteqred ghax kif inisbu izejd tilhaq talaq 70 sena u inkunu ghadna fil gvern

    • M says:

      One wonders if when you learn to write properly and therefore have the opportunity to better understand what you read, you might realize that the point is not how long a party manages to stay in government but how the country evolves and the people live during that time. But then, sadly, you might prefer to listen to the spin and keep your eyes closed or indeed you might be a fan of iced buns, poor you!

  15. bun-seeker says:

    Komodo – mhux int fil gvern, imam Muscat li qed jidhaq bik u dawk il hafna li jahsbu li hu fil gvern biex imexxi!! Ohlom, sur Komodo. Kelna Gvernijiet talLabour qabel, imam qatt ma kelna dawn l-isfaccatagni. Forsi, issa li ktibt fuq dan il Blogg, FORSI, xi iced bun li baqa iwassalulek Muscat

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