Politics is a tough business. There today, gone tomorrow. And so it will be for Tony Blair. The curtain is due to come down on his act.

Martin Rowson

He has had his fifteen minutes of fame. Tis time to leave. Blair has acknowledged this by conceding the need for a stable and orderly handover.

Blair has been damaged by Iraq---especially by the way he decided to go along with President Bush on invading Iraq eight months before the Iraq War commenced. As in Australia, the decision to invade Iraq was made, without significant consultation, reasonable intelligence on Iraq, or any desire to explore ways to avoid war, and well before seeking a parliamentary or United Nations mandate of any sort.