‘Sir’ Tony Blair & remembering 2003. Guardian Fletter 5th January 2022
Keir Starmer, while approving a knighthood for Tony Blair, notes that Iraq remains an issue for many (UK government urged to rescind Tony Blair’s knighthood, 4 January). The problem is that elevating the former prime minister to the Order of the Garter is an official attempt to say that the Iraq war doesn’t matter any-more. The current Labour leader had it right when, as a QC and human rights lawyer, he wrote in the Guardian on 17 March 2003 that “flawed advice does not make the unlawful use of force lawful”. Many of us remember the point; it’s a pity Sir Keir seems to have forgotten it.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/05/the-queen-is-ill-advised-in-knighting-tony-blair
This Fletter appeared in the Guardian on 5th January, both in the print edition and in the various digital editions. Not that many read the print edition anymore (The Guardian is hardly alone in this) and while the letters are there in the e-editions(which is where I read them) you do need to specifically check them rather than just turn a page and glance at them.
It may well be that in the age of social media posts, blogs, podcasts, You tube posts, Tik Tok and Insta the letter is of less impact than it was. It is however the only format more or less guaranteed to be preserved for future generations of historians like myself to look at.
I’ve been writing to the Guardian since 1986 and I’m still doing it, for the time being anyway
Keir Starmer in 2003
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/17/foreignpolicy.iraq1?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
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