Blair is Finished

I've posted it before. Blair will be gone in March. Anyone watching our PM on the Politics Show today could see that he is living some parallel existence. He refused to answer most of Jon Sopel's entirely reasonable questions - and he adopted the Del Trotter approach by laughing and resorting to the "Who? Me Guv!" style which used to work. Tony Blair as Prime Minister is finished

But Mr Blair told us that he was staying until he finished - the job that is. What job? Well, sorting out a world trade deal, fixing climate change and ending poverty in Africa. Oh, and Northern Ireland as well. And he looked as if he believed it. He was completely thrown by the 'Saudi aircraft deal' question, which he must surely have expected. He didn't look as if he gave a damn that the UK could be condoning serious fraud. And he didn't seem to give a damn that Peter Hain has been openly undermining his authority in pursuit of the Deputy leadership of the Labour Party. Several times during the interview, he had the look of a naughty boy having been caught raiding the sweet jar.

I hope Rhodri Morgan wasn't watching. He will be a lousy mood on Tuesday if he was. He must be hoping for the Edmund Stroiber solution. Herr Stroiber, CSU leader of Bavaria announced last week that he intended to stay til 2012 - which caused such a rumpus that he's brought the date forward to today! Surely, Labour can't keep Blair in place until the May elections!