TONY BLAIR : FETTES FAG


Part Thirteen | 2005-2009


The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005..

The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy; however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity, which was exacerbated by the decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003...

Tony Blair was returned as Prime Minister, with Labour having 355 MPs, but with a popular vote of 35.2%; the lowest of any majority government in UK electoral history. In terms of votes, they were only narrowly ahead of the Conservatives, but still had a comfortable lead in terms of seats...

Wikipedia


The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was formally triggered on 10 May 2007 by the resignation of Tony Blair, Labour Leader..

Informal campaigning had been ongoing ever since Tony Blair's original announcement in 2004 that he would not be fighting a fourth general election as leader. Pressure for a timetable eventually led him to announce on 7 September 2006 that he would step down within a year.. Nominations opened on 14 May and closed.. on 17 May.

Blair said he expected Gordon Brown to succeed him, and that Brown "would make an excellent Prime Minister". From the start most observers considered Brown the overwhelming favourite to succeed Blair; John McDonnell, his only challenger, failed to secure enough nominations in order to get onto the ballot and conceded defeat to Gordon Brown...

...On 27 June, Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and was succeeded as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown...

Wikipedia


Report: NSA Kept File On Tony Blair's 'Private Life' And Intercepted Iraqi President's 'Pillow Talk'

Matt Corley / November 24 2008

In October, ABC News reported that despite President Bush's promises that the National Security Administration's warrantless wiretapping program was aimed only at terrorists, the NSA frequently listened to and transcribed the private phone calls of Americans abroad. The network's report was based on whistleblower interviews with two former military intercept operators.

One of the whistleblowers, former Navy Arab linguist David Murfee Faulk, told ABC News that he and his co-workers listened in on "hundreds of Americans" over the years:

'Another intercept operator... David Murfee Faulk, 39, said he and his fellow intercept operators listened into hundreds of Americans picked up using phones in Baghdad's Green Zone from late 2003 to November 2007.

"Calling home to the United States, talking to their spouses, sometimes their girlfriends, sometimes one phone call following another," said Faulk...'

But it wasn't just ordinary Americans. In a new report today, Faulk tells ABC that during his time working for the government, "U.S. Intelligence swooped on the private lives of two of America's most important allies in fighting al Qaeda: British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Iraq's first interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer":

'David Murfee Faulk told ABCNews.com he saw and read a file on Blair's "private life" and heard "pillow talk" phone calls of al-Yawer when he worked as an Army Arab linguist assigned to a secret NSA facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia between 2003 and 2007...'

Though "collecting information on foreign leaders is a legal and common practice of intelligence agencies around the world", former intelligence officials tell ABC News that the U.S. and Britain have a long-standing agreement "not to collect on each other":

'The NSA works extremely closely and shares data with its British counterpart, the GCHQ, Government Communications Headquarters.

"If it is true that we maintained a file on Blair, it would represent a huge breach of the agreement we have with the Brits", said one former CIA official...'...

thinkprogress.org


Dope Kids Expelled By Fettes

Daily Record / November 18 2009   

Four pupils from one of Scotland's poshest schools have been expelled for smoking pot. They were kicked out of Fettes College in Edinburgh - whose former pupils include Tony Blair - after an investigation by staff.    

A further 15 kids at the £23,000-a-year school were suspended.

Senior staff at the boarding school were tipped off about the hash-smoking gang by pupils.

Fettes is known for its zero tolerance approach to drug-taking and, in the past, head teacher Michael Spens criticised moves to make possession of cannabis a non-arrestable offence.

He claimed the decision by Blair's government would confuse young people.

Last night, Spens said: "While it is highly regrettable that a small minority of pupils have shown very poor judgment, their actions must not be allowed to detract from the highly laudable achievements of the school as a whole."

In 2002, three sixth-form pupils were expelled from Fettes for smoking cannabis.

One later claimed "an awful lot" of pupils at the school regularly used drugs.