Politics Betting – Blair’s Hopes Fade As Belgian Attracts EU Money

From saviour to sleaze magnet, the political career of Tony Blair summed up in five words if you believe what you read in the right-wing papers. ‘His Tonyness’ certainly made some enemies in his time in Downing Street and it looks like none of them are prepared to cut him any slack in his bid to become the first EU President. The position has been created by the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty but it appears there are very few in this country who want to see Blair in a position of power again and even high-ranking socialists abroad are ganging up to ensure the former prime minister doesn’t get the job. The leader of the German Socialists, Martin Schulz, coming out in support of his chancellor Angela Merkel in attacking Blair‘s credentials, claiming that Tony was a failure as UK prime minister because he failed adopt the Euro or agree to comply with the Schengen open borders agreement, unlike most other European countries. His unstinting support of the USA over Iraq also did little for European harmony so it’s no surprise that the 56-year-old former Labour leader has been a big drifter in the betting to become the new European supremo. Paddy Power now have Blair at 11-2 to win the nomination, with a flood of money coming for Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rumpuy. Now as I understand it, Van Rumpuy would have to relinquish his role within Belgian politics to accept the job, which could cause a problem as he is largely credited with bringing some stability to his country after a period of turmoil. But seeing as he didn’t want that particular job in the first place, he probably wouldn’t need much persuading to quit. As introvert as Blair is outgoing (his passion is composing a bizarre form of Japanese poetry), the Belgian would be regarded as a ‘safe’ option by many and is now no bigger than 4-7 (Ladbrokes) with the once strongly-tipped Jan-Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands pushed out to 7-1 (Paddy Power).