Tony Blair's speech announcing his retirement yesterday was graceful, well judged and to the point. Stressing how much has changed for the better in Britain over his ten years in office as prime minister he allowed that several great expectations remain unfulfilled and that his critics are unforgiving. He did as he did out of conviction - "doing what you genuinely believe is right for the country". This expresses very well the self-confidence which has sustained him throughout his 13 years as Labour Party leader and 10 as prime minister.
There will be ample opportunity to reach more definitive conclusions on that career before it finally finishes on June 27th. In the meantime Mr Blair himself has invited those who judge him to take certain crucial facts into account. Among them, his dissatisfaction with older models of left-right confrontation looms large. Yesterday, he strongly defended the "Third Way" policies which saw him champion market freedoms and individual choice as well as higher social spending, arguing that Britain is much the better for it in living standards, health, education and employment. The country is "at ease with globalisation" and now much more capable, he believes, of handling the generalised interdependence which is its main characteristic. He is less worried than his critics about resultant income inequalities or a coarsening of everyday life there.
Had Britain not changed, he said, it is difficult to see how the conflict in Northern Ireland could have been settled. He has been a towering figure in the peace process, showing a dogged commitment to it over the whole ten years which must be placed in the first rank of his overall political achievements.
He is much more guarded and defensive on Iraq, saying he did what was right and that it is too soon to dismiss his policy as a failure. This is in line with his abiding belief in liberal intervention and the need to preserve Britain's alliance with the United States, which gives it international influence. But his pursuit of that alliance has deepened Britain's association with an increasingly unpopular Bush administration at home and abroad.
Had Mr Blair balanced this against a stronger British commitment to Europe he would have exerted greater pressure on Washington. But he has not been willing to take on the Euro-sceptic media and campaigning groups on whom he otherwise relied for domestic political support. In the last seven weeks of his time as prime minister such criticisms should get a fuller airing. They will fill out the political agenda followed by his presumed successor, Gordon Brown.