Letter: Winning ways

Tony Blair has been proven to be right on so many things, and the publication of his book (your report, 1 September) merely endorses that fact.

He was right in forecasting Gordon Brown would be a disaster as prime minister. He was right that removing Saddam Hussein was of great benefit to humankind and that, left unchecked, the Iraqi dictator would to this day be continuing his fascist regime's genocide and butchery, while the UN and Blair's critics continued to wring their hands from the sidelines and mouth platitudes.

He is also most certainly right in thinking that if Labour now turns to the hard left and the suicide-note manifestos of the 1980s, it will cease to exist as the representative of the centre-left in the UK and instead disintegrate, some going to the Lib Dems, others into futile George Galloway/Tommy Sheridan-like factions, leaving the right unchallenged in the UK and the SNP unchallenged at a Scottish level.

More than anything else, what Blair realised was the fundamental differences between a Labour voter and Labour activist.

It is no coincidence he was hated and feared most by the left in his own party, by the Tories at UK level and by the SNP in Scotland. He was a winner.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh

The comment from Tony Blair about Gordon Brown reminds me of the story about the kettle and the pot. However, I don't think it will increase the sales of Tony's book.

John McDonald

Rosebery Court

Kirkcaldy