TONY BLAIR : FETTES FAG 


Part Eleven | 2000-2002 


'TONY BLAIR has the worst record as a Parliamentarian of any Prime Minister since 1969 and treats the Commons as his "poodle" says a think tank.

A report published today by the Right-wing Centre for Policy Studies recommends sweeping changes to the workings of Westminster. It says the executive is too powerful at the expense of the Commons. MPs, especially select committees, should get new powers to scrutinise the Government's work.

Publication coincides with Mr Blair's struggle to reassert his authority after publicity blunders culminating in his mauling by the Women's Institute on Wednesday. The report's author, the Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, said: "Mr Blair pays little attention to the House of Commons, voting and speaking much less than any of his predecessors."

Mr Blair had the worst voting record of any prime minister since Harold Wilson.' 

Benedict Brogan Blair Treats Commons As Poodle; The Telegraph, 12.06.2000


'..As the plane started to land, Blair relaxed a little bit, leaned back in his chair. Someone had told me that he once had a fear of flying, and he confessed it was true: "I just made myself fly and fly and fly again until I got out of it." One of his aides, now listening, said, "Oh, you told us you used to have to drink a lot before getting on a plane." Blair pulled a face, "Hey, are you my press officer, or are you not?" More laughter. Blair looked in mock horror at my tape recorder: "Is that thing still running?"

I switched it off, and said, "OK, now you can tell me all your secrets."

"I don't know any secrets," he said....'

Anne Applebaum Tony Blair's Quiet, Normal Life; Slate, 17.04.2001 


'TONY BLAIR sounds charming, really charming - or so many people have found, including myself. He also sounds bogus, deeply bogus - or so many people have found, including myself. His style is unusually hard to fathom: at the same time honest and open, with an attractive laugh, yet ingratiating and secretive, with a marked unwillingness to give straight replies...'

Andrew Gimson The Public School Smarm Of Blair; The Spectator, 05.05.2001


'A TEENAGER has been booted out of Tony Blair's old school and three more suspended after a series of underage booze benders.

The 17-year-old boy was expelled after being caught drinking in Edinburgh's posh Fettes College for the fourth time.

The other teenage tipplers, aged between 17 and 18, were suspended after they were nabbed on a city centre pub crawl by teachers from the exclusive £15,000-a-year boarding school. One school insider last night claimed pupils as young as 13 down bottles of vodka and rum in the dorms while others escape for wild nights out...

The revelations come just six months after a 15-year-old boy was suspended for sending e-mail porn to classmates.

And last year a sixth-former was expelled for taking drugs.

The teenage school insider claimed some house masters "covered up" drinking to protect the image of their house.

He added: "Little action seems to be taken to stop people buying alcohol.

Younger boys of 13 and 14 get the older ones to buy them spirits. There is no search procedure.

The younger ones will drink a quarter bottle of spirits while the older ones have five or six pints.

They drink in dorms, studies, or the toilets."

But headmaster Michael Spens last night denied the claims boozing was rife...'  

Graham Tibbetts Booze Pupil Booted From Blair School; The Mirror, 28.05.2001


'The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election.. to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the governing Labour Party was re-elected to serve a second term in government with another landslide victory, returning 413 of the 418 seats won by the party in the previous general election...' (Wikipedia)


'The War in Afghanistan.. followed the United States invasion of Afghanistan of October 7, 2001. The U.S. was supported initially by the United Kingdom and Canada, and later by a coalition of over 40 countries, including all NATO members. The war's public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda and to deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power. The War in Afghanistan is the second longest war in United States history...' (Wikipedia) 


'THE son of a Scots computer tycoon and two of his classmates have been expelled from Tony Blair's old school for taking drugs.

David Simpson Jnr., 18, was kicked out of Edinburgh's exclusive Fettes College along with QC's son Guy Thomas and Ruaridh Osborne.

Simpson's father, Dr David Simpson, was one of the founders of  Silicon Glen and was awarded the CBE for services to the electronics industry.

The sixth-years were ordered to leave the £11,000 a year private school following two separate incidents in the same week.

Thomas, 17, was expelled after failing a drugs test on Monday.

He only transferred to Fettes last year after leaving exclusive Millfield School in Somerset.

A friend said: "Guy was in in Belgium and teachers thought he may have been drinking alcohol. He was then asked to take a drugs test which he did but he failed that and was expelled." 

Simpson and Osborne, 17, were found with drugs at a school disco.

Their classmate said: "The other two were caught in toilets on Saturday night and were searched. A couple of teachers found a small bag of cannabis and some rolling papers on them."...'

James Moncur Tycoon Son Is Expelled Over Drugs; Daily Record, 06.02.2002


'A GIRL who blew the whistle on three pupils expelled from posh Fettes College for taking drugs was also thrown out yesterday.

The 17-year-old was hauled before senior teachers at Tony Blair's old school for breaching secrecy rules by talking to the press...

Yesterday, one of the boys kicked out for smoking cannabis demanded a second chance, citing the "Prince Harry defence".

Guy Thomas.. said his treatment was unfair because he did not smoke during term time...

Thomas has offered to pay for regular drugs tests for the rest of his time at Fettes.

And he claims "an awful lot of people" use cannabis at the school...'

Sally McLean Fettes Expels Girl Over Drugs Leak; Daily Record, 07.02.2002


'TEACHER Catherine Cecil's seemingly courageous fight against terminal cancer won her the respect of everyone at Edinburgh's exclusive Fettes College.

Her sparkling sense of humour earned her friends. She even posed for the private school's magazine, The Fettesian, gleefully holding a book titled Nude Party Games.

But, Cecil, 33, has now resigned in disgrace from prime Minister Tony Blair's old school after it was discovered she had been living a lie for four years.. and had faked having cancer.

The Irish-born physics teacher went to extraordinary lengths to keep up the bizarre pretence in front of teachers and pupils that she was dying from leukaemia.

She appeared to faint during classes and even shaved her head to simulate the side effects of harrowing chemo-therapy treatment.

Headmaster Michael Spens said he was "shocked" at her deceit...'

Brian Lironi Fettes Teacher Kicked Out For Faking Cancer; Sunday Mail, 17.02.2002 


'A TEENAGER shot a classmate after a playground feud at Tony Blair's old school, it was revealed last night.

The 17-year-old calmly pulled an airgun from his bag and blasted his rival in the chest in front of other pupils at exclusive Fettes College, Edinburgh.

But the school authorities failed to report the incident. Instead, headmaster Michael Spens merely suspended the guilty boy for two weeks. Insiders at the £11,000-a-year college told of the incident and said the victim was taken to the school's medical centre for emergency treatment, where staff initially feared he was seriously injured. But he was given the all-clear...

Michael Matheson, deputy justice spokesman for the SNP, said it was outrageous that such an incident.. wasn't reported to the police.

He said: "Questions must be asked if a pupil is allowed to pull an air pistol out at school and deliberately target a schoolmate. I am extremely surprised that staff at Fettes College chose not to call the police over this matter."...'

James Moncur Shooting At Blair's Public School; Daily Record, 01.05.2002 


'..Nobody, so far as I know, has suggested that Blair is like this because he went to a public school, Fettes College, on the outside of Edinburgh. He owes a vast amount to the place. His charm and his bogusness, his ability to put people at their ease, his exceptional.. appeal to Conservative voters, his sure touch with the Establishment, his scorn for established institutions, his pose as a man of the people, his love of play-acting, his ability to conceal his real thoughts: all these might still be found if the Prime Minister had never gone near Fettes, but all can plausibly be shown, in the form they take with him, to owe much to his time there...'

Andrew Gimson The Public School Smarm Of Blair; The Spectator, 05.05.2001