Tony Blair: Mother of dead soldier slams knighthood

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The former Labour Prime Minister was awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. But there has been widespread opposition to the honour, with more than one million people having signed a petition calling for him to have the knighthood removed. Unlike many other honours, the honour given to Tony Blair – the Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter – is made without advice from the Prime Minister.

Many Express.co.uk readers hit out at the Queen for her choice to award the former Prime Minister the honour, with some saying that it has made them question the monarchy’s place in society.

One reader, Oliver Pugh, said it was a “disaster for our Queen”.

He wrote: “As a staunch Royalist this has pushed it too far for me.

“Never should Blair have been awarded the knighthood.

“It’s a disaster for our Queen when Charlie is next in line and Andy due to be dragged back to America.

“What it does prove to me is that we the public are bottom of the barrel.

“We mean nothing to the elite.”

A second reader, with the nickname NotAyresomePark, wrote: “As a lifelong royalist it pains me to say the Blair knighthood means the Queen and the Royal Family are surplus to requirements.”

A third reader, Boni, said they agreed, calling it the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.

Rick Smith added: “Once a royalist now an abolitionist.

“The Queen honouring Blair was the final straw with that bunch.”

Another reader, Karen Walters, said: “A very bad decision knighting Blair, very bad indeed.

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“A royalist at heart, but this has turned me.”

While Papito claimed the honour shows the Queen’s “separation from the core feelings of the British people.”

However, some readers defended the monarchy, with R6rules calling the Queen “our greatest ambassador for great Britain and commonwealth.”

Meanwhile, another user, SandyFeet38, defended Tony Blair, writing: “Blair and Bush did the BEST that they could UNDER the circumstances AND with the intelligence that THEY had at that time.”

They added: “We always need to look at the BIGGER picture to see the outcome.”

The anger over Tony Blair’s knighthood primarily stems from his decision to send UK troops into Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.

As Prime Minister, he made the case for military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime by saying that there was evidence of weapons of mass destruction that could be used within 45 minutes.

But the Chilcott Inquiry, which looked into the UK’s involvement in the war, concluded that Sir Tony exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime.

It said: “The judgments about Iraq’s capabilities … were presented with a certainty that was not justified.”

It also said that the UK chose to join the invasion before “peaceful options had been exhausted”.

It added: “Military action at that time was not a last resort.”

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