Tony Blair and the death of John Smith

[John Simkin]

There is a strange confession in Tony Blair’s memoirs, A Journey (2010). At the beginning of April 1994, when John Smith was leader of the Labour Party, Blair was staying in a hotel in Paris. Blair writes:

I remember waking up the first morning and then waking Cherie. I said to her “If John dies, I will be leader, not Gordon (Brown). And somehow I think this will happen. I just think it will.”

The following month, on 12th May, the 56 year-old John Smith died of a heart-attack. Later that day, Blair, according to his memoirs, bumps into Peter Mandelson:

“Peter” I said, “you know I love you, but this is mine. I am sure of it. And you must help me do it.”

As Craig Brown has pointed out:

“The echoes of Jesus saying “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my church” are creepy and unavoidable.

Peter Mandelson agrees to change sides and abandons Gordon Brown, the favourite to takeover from John Smith. What is more, he spreads rumours amongst Labour MPs that Brown, like Mandelson is a homosexual and that this information will be used against him by the press during the next General Election if he becomes leader of the party. This frightens the Labour MPs into supporting Blair as leader. Brown withdrew from the contest and quickly finds himself a woman to marry. He also receives a promise from Blair that he will replace him as prime minister if he wins the 1997 General Election (a promise that he did not fulfil until 2007).

Blair might try to convince his readers that the prediction of John Smith’s death came from God. However, I suspect that this information came from another source. Maybe it came from a fellow member of MI5? Maybe the death of John Smith needs to be investigated.

[John Dolva]

There are so many reasons to fight homophobia, sexism, so many ism schisms.(RIP RNM)