Blair não é um liberal

Será que, afinal, Tony Blair e a sua liderança trabalhista não são os liberais que os seus discursos mais recentes podem indiciar?
Na sequência do pouco edificante episódio da expulsão e posterior detenção, ao abrigo de leis anti-terroristas, de um congressista (Walter Wolfgang, 82 anos) por se ter manifestado contra os argumentos que Jack Straw apresentava no seu discurso sobre a guerra no Iraque, surge o seguinte artigo no Telegraph:

This is a Government obsessed with "rights", but blind to any notion of liberty. Historic procedures such as trial by jury and habeas corpus are viewed almost with contempt by a Prime Minister who seems to regard them as the unloved relics of a bygone age, like fox hunting. The Government passes the Data Protection Act - supposedly to give us new rights to privacy - while it simultaneously lays the groundwork for compulsory ID cards, which would be the most intrusive peace-time legislation ever enacted, and would require all of us to submit unique biometric data to the state. As the Government has trampled on our liberties, it has enshrined spurious new rights under the Human Rights Act, now five years old.

Mr Blair (...) does not understand the simple notion of a liberal society, based on principles of the rule of law and of limited government. He must always tinker and control because - as a life-long politician with scant experience outside of that bubble - he cannot understand the simple human desire to be left alone.