Blair inherited a policy which rigidly controlled the number of people who could apply for asylum in Britain. In 1997, by the removal of the primary purpose rule and the relaxation of asylum seekers, they just went up. The main point that Tom makes is that there was a slimy conspiratorial move that rebashed asylum seekers. He says this specifically as economic migrants. That is nonsense,. It was impossible to do it, and indeed it wasn't done. You've got your facts wrong. Health spending had increased by 300%. It had increased to you average 8.8% GDP. I think it would be sensible.
Tony Blair is the man who reinvented Labour, won a landslide majority in 1997 and went on to win three elections, becoming Labour’s longest-serving prime minister. He is also the man accused of lies, hubris, money-making deals and taking us into an illegal war.
This episode features a live event which Intelligence Squared hosted in London in March 2016, when we put Tony Blair on trial and examined his legacy on foreign policy, health, education and much more.
Levelling charges against him was Tom Bower, investigative journalist and author of Broken Vows: Tony Blair and the Tragedy of Power. Defending him was the journalist and Times columnist David Aaronovitch.
This event was originally produced by Hannah Kaye. This series was produced by Farah Jassat and Catharine Hughes, with editing and artwork from Catharine Hughes. Music is by Lesfm.
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