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Blair to rejoin Labour Party
6 Jan 2004
Tony Blair today succeeded in his application to rejoin the Labour Party after over six years' absence. Mr Blair caused controversy among party members in 1997 when he began "behaving like a bloody Tory", to quote a senior Scottish neighbour, and subsequently lost their confidence that he could uphold the party's values.
"He's privatised, he's sold off, he's introduced market reforms... he's like a human incarnation of the Tory party," said one anonymous backbencher, who wished to be known only as Dennis Skinner. "And then he took us off to war on the coattails of a lunatic American president. He has totally breached our trust."
There had been strong opposition to Mr Blair returning to the party, not least from allies of Gordon Brown, who friends say thinks he should be "strung up, the insufferable git, and then I can be leader".
However, with Michael Howard dramatically increasing his position in the popularity stakes this week from "oh God no, not him" to "urgh, I hope not", Labour members are worried that the party will be beaten into a distant first place in the next general election.
"We've got no choice but to let Blair back into the party and let him fight the next general election as party leader," said Franz von Papen, who sits on the National Executive Committee. "He may have betrayed our party's most basic principles, become a hate figure among left-wingers and started what most of the party thinks is an unjustified war, but he's won two elections and that's what really matters."
"Who knows, maybe we'll be able to control him this time," added a Mr Hindenburg in apparent agreement. "What have we got to lose?"
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