They say that time heals. And I suspect that Tony Blair’s reputation as a Prime Minister will start to recover once he has left office. After all, his record for winning elections for Labour is second to none. And while there are major question marks about the true impact of all that public spending on health and education, he has succeeded, for the time being at least, in changing the framework for the debate over taxation, with the political battle lines drawn not on the merits of spending money on public services but on how to do so effectively.
As for Legal Week readers, I suspect they are feeling a good deal more comfortable about the prospects of their party of choice than they did five or so years ago. There will always be a smattering of Labour activists among the commercial law community – Bird & Bird’s Hamish Sandison springs to mind, as does full-time Government adviser Garry Hart, formerly of Herbert Smith – but there is no doubt where business lawyers’ natural sympathies lie.
