| Synopsis: |
We are not the masters. The people are the masters. We are the servants of the people. We will never forget that.With these words, six days after he was elected to lead the first Labour government Britain had seen for 18 years, Tony Blair pledged a clear break with the casual exercise of power that typified the Tories' long rule. Three years later, with a new election around the corner, this promise lies in tatters.With sardonic commentary and pointed images, two of Britain's toughest and smartest journalists excavate the new Babylon being built on the Thames, shedding light on its excessive luxury and wickedness. They point out that no Prime Minister has ever moved so swiftly to set up his own court, or exercise patronage so widely, or, for that matter, to spend hundreds of thousands on refurnishing residences at Downing Street and Chequers. Whitehall has been taken over by unelected special advisers, party donations are used to purchase honours and policy adjustments, ministers are returned to cabinet despite open evidence of fraud, and promises of democratic reform ring as hollow, after naked election rigging by Millbank in London's mayoral election, as the interior of the Millennium Dome.So welcome to the new era, in which Labour wages casual wars and draws fire from the Tory benches for its toughness towards Afghan refugees. As the crowd moves on from the Brit hip of New Labour and its Oasis soundtrack, Blair's government, under the fastidious scrutiny of Cohen and Maguire, is exposed for what it is: authoritarian, bellicose, xenophobic and, above all, out for itself. |