Further intelligence reaches me about the stinging criticism of Gordon Brown by Tony Blair which was revealed in a scoop by the Mail on Sunday this month. In what the paper called a "secret memo," Blair accused his successor of hubris, vacuity and a lamentable performance, saying he had made a fatal mistake by "dissing" Labour's record since 1997 after becoming Prime Minister, which had played into the Tories' hands.
I'm told the "memo" was an email Blair sent to a few friends last autumn just after he had mastered the art of writing emails, something the self-confessed technophobe did not have to worry about while he was PM. On leaving office, he learnt how to send text messages, but emails apparently took a bit longer. Rather charmingly, it seems our former leader thought that emails were as private as a telephone call. After he had tapped out his thoughts on Brown, aides had to explain to him that emails were not secure at all and advised him not to repeat the exercise.
Blair insists he is "100 per cent supportive" of the Brown Government but has not denied that he wrote the words. Presumably, he now picks up the phone when he wants to let rip about Brown.
"Blair accused his successor of hubris, vacuity and a lamentable performance,"
He should certainly have no problem in recognising any of those traits as he managed to hone them into a fine art himself.
Posted by: flipped | Friday, 29 August 2008 at 05:04 PM