The Trial Of Tony Blair…

There are times when Channel 4 should be thoroughly ashamed of itself.

This year’s Celebrity Big Brother is a case in point. But if you turn TV into a zoo then sometimes you may not like all of the species on show, especially when some of them offer a stark reminder that at heart a lot of Brits are thick, racist fuckers.

You know, the type of thick, racist fuckers who assume that everyone from a Middle Eastern country – or sometimes somewhere that just sounds vaguely Arabic – is a suicide bomber or a terrorist. And if they’re not exactly from around there then anywhere near will do. Where you from again Shilpa? Bollywood? Well it’s near enough…

But there are good reasons this climate of hatred and racism has been allowed to grow in the UK at this present time – which brings us nicely onto Tony Blair and his role as American lapdog and arch bomber of Iraq.

For although Channel 4 should be lambasted for Celebrity Big Brother, it should also get some praise for producing and screening drama like The Trial Of Tony Blair.

In this 90-minute one-off Robert Lindsay portrayed Blair in the year 2010 when he stands down as Prime Minister and begrudgingly hands over the reigns of power to Gordon Brown.

Lindsay’s Blair is essentially a vain man seeking reassurance that he’s secured his place in history as a politician of stature and dignity, while at the same time being haunted by the bloodshed he’s caused in Iraq, being pursued by the Hague for war crimes and seeking redemption through the Catholic church.

This drama sees Blair failing in his post-PM life as the big UN job never materialises and the scenes of him pottering around a huge Thames-side office as he waits for the phone to ring are bizarrely quite moving.

There’s also a wonderful scene where a publisher rejects his memoirs because Blair refuses to acknowledge the gulf between how he sees his legacy in print and how everyone else sees it in reality. There’s also a smart scene where Blair and his wife end up in the casualty department of a hospital waiting treatment and he is forced to see how rundown the service has become.

The drama ends with Blair betrayed by his US allies and by Gordon Brown as he is indicted to stand trial in the Hague.

It’s an entertaining but not fully satisfying 90 minutes. By humanising Blair to such an extent and focusing on his tragedy (ie. He’s basically a decent man who made a very bad decision over Iraq) viewers aren’t faced with the reality that he is also a ruthless politician who has ridiculous amounts of blood on his hands.

It’s a trial that didn’t really call him to account. A bit like hanging a former dictator for one crime when he should have had to face justice and be called to account for so much more.

It almost makes Big Brother not very important. But if Blair isn’t sorting out the culture of hatred he’s helped create then a so-called responsible broadcaster should at least not be perpetuating it – and that’s why Channel 4 should be called to account…