The Blair legacy, is this it?

Interesting little report in today's Observer.

If this is what Tony Blair has been hanging on for it may well be something very surprising, very valuable and seriously enduring.

Tony Blair, the man who talked Bush and his right-wing political & economic backers round?

George Bush is preparing to make a historic shift in his position on global warming when he makes his State of the Union speech later this month, say senior Downing Street officials.

Tony Blair hopes that the new stance by the United States will lead to a breakthrough in international talks on climate change and that the outlines of a successor treaty to the Kyoto agreement, the deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases which expires in 2012, could now be thrashed out at the G8 summit in June.

The timetable may explain why Blair is so keen to remain in office until after the summit, with a deal on protecting the planet offering an appealing legacy with which to bow out of Number 10.

Bush and Blair held private talks on climate change before Christmas, and there is a feeling that the US President will now agree a cap on emissions in the US, meaning that, for the first time, American industry and consumers would be expected to start conserving energy and curbing pollution.

observer.guardian.co.uk...

As with everything else Blair does, this is probably going to come with a hidden price tag or some other backdoor shenanigans. I can't help it, but when I mention one of the good things that has happened since 1997, there is always a downside to it as a result when it comes to Blair.

I just don't trust him, his cronies or even the party anymore.

Originally posted by stumason
As with everything else Blair does, this is probably going to come with a hidden price tag

Hmmmm, possibly a touch cynical there stumason. There is, of course, no such thing as a free lunch and there never has been whoever has been in power, (although of course, it is always possible that this is in fact payment from GWB for services already rendered (naive, moi?)), but whatever quid pro quo is required let's wait and see before we be too critical.

If Blair can deliver US commitment to a new Kyoto that will surely be a significant achievement.