TONY BLAIR’S LESSONS: A LETTER TO THE ECONOMIST (June 4, 2007)

Congratulations to you for offering Tony Blair three of your pages on what he has learned in ten years as prime minister, and congratulations to him for writing them for you (“What I’ve Learned,” June 2, 2007). But I must say that I am rather disappointed by his lessons. Here is what I have learned from him both as a Briton and as a citizen of the world: in domestic and foreign policy alike, there is a fine line between being engaged and being meddlesome. On balance, it is better to err on the side of doing too little than too much. Both at home and abroad, the outgoing prime minister has opted for doing too much way too often, and to a ruinous effect. In the end, I am quite disappointed that he has not learned that simple lesson in ten long years at the helm.