Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has airily dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s leadership during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, instead harking back to his work alongside Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as examples of how global inter-governmental cooperation can win the day.
His remarks in an interview with NBC News last Friday followed an earlier intervention in the crisis when his own globalist think tank claimed it is “embedded in governments around the world,” as Breitbart News reported.
In his most recent observations, he told NBC News he was worried about the lack of global coordination in tackling the crisis.
“The worry I have that an absence of global coordination and global leadership that’s necessary for it is a huge problem,” he said.
“When I think back to the times when I’m dealing with American presidents whether it’s Bill Clinton or George Bush, Barack Obama as well, the most important thing at a time like this is to say, ‘How do you bring the world together?”‘
By building more and bigger global government, Blair believes leaders could find a vaccine together, accelerate the development of therapeutics and testing capability, while keeping the international economy afloat.
“It’s that global coordination, the absence of which means that each individual country’s less effective at dealing with the disease. That’s the thing that worries me,” he stated.
The left-wing former Labour leader was asked his opinion on Trump’s suggestions on fighting the epidemic, he said: “I think most people would understand what I would think, but it’s probably better sometimes not to say it.”
Earlier this month the Tony Blair Institute announced it has “teams” advising world governments “to keep their people safe during this pandemic — not just in respect of Covid-19 itself but also the political and economic collateral damage.”
It also echoed his own personal call for more resources to be poured into the World Health Organization:
During his tensure as prime minister, Blair was a key ally of U.S. President George W. Bush. Under his leadership, the U.K. joined the U.S.-led coalition fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In comments made after the release of a 2016 report on the UK’s entry into the Iraq conflict, John Chilcot said he did not believe Tony Blair was “straight with the nation” over the issue.
Speaking to BBC News, the chairman of the public inquiry into the 2003 military engagement said Blair pinned his account of events leading up to the war on belief rather than fact.
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