British Troop pullout from N. Ireland by 2007 (or so Blair thinks)
If Tony Blair can’t manage to get his troops out of Iraq, then perhaps he might give Northern Ireland a try. It seems one of the main reasons why Blair has been so reluctant to step down is because he has invested an so much personal capital in Northern Ireland, and now he wants to see it through to some sort of a successful conclusion - a success which might help redeem his legacy by making up for some the other failures of his term in office.
While the corridors of the Palace of Westminster and, indeed, 11 Downing Street are agitated by uncertainty about when, and if, Tony Blair will hand power to Gordon Brown, their friends at the Ministry of Defence claim to know what is going on - it’s all to do with TB’s ‘legacy’. According to several well-placed sources, the plan is this:
Over the coming months, military bosses have been asked to prepare for the withdrawal of troops from Northern Ireland. The peace process will be seen to be back on track and everyone will be happy.
By autumn 2007, all troops will have left the province. Then Mr Blair will take his final bow. ‘The Prime Minister has decided that the only way to eclipse Iraq in people’s minds is for some sort of grand military manoeuvre before he leaves office and, in fairness, his activity in Northern Ireland to date has been pretty successful,’ I’m told.
‘It’s a good place for him to look for a positive legacy. The autumn 2007 date is roughly in line with what his defence advisers think possible but, let’s face it, once he’s left office, if we end up needing to send troops back, it’ll be a problem for his successor.’
As one source is at pains to point out, this could all go ‘tits up’. But it’s Blair’s last chance to secure himself a serious place in the history books and get people to forget, for example, cash for peerages, John Prescott and the rest, the NHS, Cherie’s hair
Of course given how notoriously difficult it has been to get the political parties in N. Ireland to actually agree on anything, I’d say Blair might be shit out of luck on this one.