Blair not on trial

Today, and no doubt for the weekend, the front pages will be plastered with "Blair on trial etc. Make no mistake, he isn't. The mother of all democracies is on trial, it's systems, methods and governance.

Blair will say ;
I thought it was the right thing to do.
You elected me to make this kind of decision.
I made that decision.
You elected me again.

If we learn anything from the Chilcot enquiry (and it's remit is to find out exactly what went down with the sole purpose of learning from any mistakes made - nothing more) it's that our system facilitated all that has passed. In the unlikely event that Blair breaks down, cries like a baby and asks for forgiveness it wouldn't change any of the statements above.

Notice an almost total lack of noise from the opposition benches on Chilcot in the last weeks. There's a reason for this, they're elected representatives, they sit in Parliament, they do that to balance, moderate and challenge the government. If they find the Labour party in government wanting it is because they're spectacularly wanting themselves as opposition. The force of their (counter) arguments, their direction, their purpose - all spectacularly wanting. By definition, they are complicit. Lest we forget the expenses debacle. What responsibility do they accept for the emasculation of the Commons, Parliament and Parliamentary process ? What reforms have they proposed ? Have we heard a pipsqueak of lateral thought, the likes of, "the opposition should have the same access to the intelligence documents that built your dodgy dossier before we're asked to vote on it". The status quo will suit them just fine when they're in the driving seat.

As the Ministry discovered, Parliament's lack of legal accountability is at the heart of the matter, if anything should be on trial it is this. Instead, the press shouts "Judgement Day for Blair/Goldsmith/Straw" expecting some weird freaked out confession from a procession of civil servants, ministers etc. As we've seen, the truth is far more banal.