I’m not sure whether Tony Blair being President of the European Council would be good idea. The Independent, however, is sure – that he shouldn’t be. You can tell by the big picture of him on the front cover of the paper with “Nein, Non, No” over his head. You can also tell by the way their news article takes really shaky and unreliable data and presents it as conclusive proof that there is
a democratic discrepancy between voters and national leaders – who wield the votes for the new president.
That there is a democratic discrepancy in general, I wouldn’t dispute, but the three pieces of evidence they use in support are, first:
a European-wide petition to stop Mr Blair taking the post … Nearly 38,000 people have signed the petition.
That’s 38,000 out of an EU population of 450,000,000. Second:
After the IoS asked readers’ opinions last week, hundreds responded – and those saying No to Mr Blair outnumbered Yes by 20 to 1.
That’s a little thing called selection bias. And finally:
A poll last week found 47 per cent of Britons were opposed to Mr Blair [sic], with 35 per cent in favour.
Assuming that the question related to the EU Presidency of the Council, it’s asking a lot for British punters (a) to understand that the President’s job will not be the same as Barack Obama’s, and (b) to separate the actual question from knee-jerk anti-EU or anti-Labour feeling. Indeed, given Labour’s lowly standing in the polls and the current anti-politician mood, the fact that 35% were in favour of the Blair candidacy is a pretty positive result for him personally.