BILLY BRAGG - BRAGG ASSESSES BLAIR LEGACY

BRAGG ASSESSES BLAIR LEGACY

Singer/songwriter BILLY BRAGG used British Prime Minister TONY BLAIR's resignation speech today (10May07) to pass judgment on the statesman's 10 years in power. Speaking from his constituency of Sedgefield earlier, the Labour leader announced he will step down on 27 June (07) and Bragg, a high-profile political campaigner, admits he had a mixed reaction to the news. He says, "In 1997 when Blair was elected we lived in a time of possibilities. Some of those possibilities have been realised like the right for gay people to get involved in a civil union, the minimum wage, getting the hereditarys (peers) out of the House Of Lords and I've been pleased by those." But he added, "Obviously it's all been overshadowed by the Iraq war and by Blair's failure to stop George Bush. I think he relied on his abilities to have some leverage with the Americans but I think we're all painfully aware now how little that really worked. "That's going to overshadow everything."