It is one of the great tragedies that Tony Blair’s Christian formation did not include reading and absorbing Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.

Whenever Blair was in a tight spot he fell back on his mantra, “It’s the right thing to do”. Subsequent Prime Ministers have also used this line. It has me shouting at the radio. The only “right thing to do” is to win the argument, or as St Paul writes, “Test everything” (5:21).

I recall Michael Foot’s speech in the House of Commons before the Falklands war, in which he acknowledged that Mrs Thatcher had won the arguments – in the UN Security Council, in Parliament, and in the court of public opinion – and therefore he and his party supported her Government.

Would that Blair had developed the wisdom to have done the same.

Ross Coad
Zeals, Wiltshire