John Rapley

British Prime Minister Tony Blair enjoyed a rare moment of contentment in Belfast this week. The image of him sitting between one-time mortal foes Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, now partners in a Northern Ireland government, will be cited as proof that he did something right during his term of office.

It's expected that later today, Mr. Blair will announce his resignation. As Britain awaits final word, some commentators have begun to muse that Mr. Blair may have done several things right. But at the moment, few Britons can think of them. The heavy cloud of the Iraq war, under which he leaves Downing Street, colours most thinking about him.

The botched Iraq invasion has come to typify all that his growing legion of opponents dislike about what might be called 'Blairism.' Among its flaws would be the preference for spin over substance, which characterised so much of what was known as the 'third way.' For at its worst, spin got spun into outright lies.

Moreover, the rightward shift of the Labour Party, to the point that it became a close friend to the Bush administration, has incensed British socialists. They wonder why on earth Mr. Blair came to lead the Labour Party, when he was closer in his thinking to conservative icon Margaret Thatcher than to his left-wing predecessors.

Whole new era

When he came to office in 1997, Mr. Blair ended 18 years of Conservative rule. Indeed, at one time, Labour looked like it had been reduced to a permanent opposition party. A burst of euphoria thus greeted his election victory. Many Britons thought a whole new era had dawned in their country's history.

Today, it all seems a distant memory. Mr. Blair will end his period in office a greatly diminished man. Evidence of his unpopularity was seen not only in the unceremonious way his party conspired to prompt him to leave, but also by the thumping Labour got in last week's regional and local elections. Everywhere, a party that just a few years ago looked like it had now become the natural majority, found itself in retreat.

And yet, history may be kinder to Mr. Blair than his contemporaries have been. Even some of his foes have to admit that, in many ways, Britain is today a better place than it was when he took office. During Mr. Blair's tenure, the country's economy experienced a decade of uninterrupted growth. Meanwhile, the fierce competitiveness of the Thatcher years has arguably given way to a society which, if still beset by inequalities, is nonetheless less conflict-ridden.

Integrating immigrants

Like all European countries, Britain confronts challenges in integrating its immigrants. And yet, the country is arguably doing a better job of it than many of its peers. The renewed popularity of London as a destination for immigrants from all over the world testifies to the fact that Britain is today a more tolerant and vibrant society than it once was.

Public services may not be what Mr. Blair promised he would make them. But the failing seems to have been in the spin. The substance is not as bad as it once was. However, the voters were led to expect more than could be delivered.

Nevertheless, by and large, Britons are healthy, prosperous and well-housed.

Many of these gains seem prosaic next to the more spectacular mistakes of the Iraq war. And the attendant 'surveillance society,' in which closed-circuit cameras scouring for terrorists monitor citizens' movements, worries many people.

Still, the anger may dissipate. In time, Mr. Blair may find he is remembered for a legacy that will prove lasting, and not all that bad.