It’s a matter of some pride to me that I am one of the few remaining people to retain a measure of admiration for Tony Blair.  It’s always seemed to me that his reputation has been blighted by his biggest mistake.

What is largely overlooked these days about him and his governments is that he

• Introduced the National Minimum Wage
• Increased it
• Saved the monarchy from itself at the time of Diana’s death
• Secured employment to its highest levels
• Wrote off the poorest countries’debts
• Achieved the lowest sustained levels of inflation since the 1960’s.
• Set minimum holiday entitlements
• Recruited 85000 more nurses and 14000 more police

The list goes on.

All of which gets forgotten behind the mist of Iraq – a situation not unlike Pepe the Sheep Shagger.

The story goes that an elderly English couple were taking an evening stroll along some Spanish beach when they came across a tanned and weather-beaten old man painting his boat.

They got talking and after a while introduced themselves. But when they asked what the old man’s name was the conversation turned a little cold.

“You see the fish on the market stalls in town every day?” he said.  “I catch those fish. I bring them to market.  I feed the people.  They call me Pepe the Fisherman? No!”

“You see the boats on the shoreline all clean and brightly painted?  I paint those boats.  They call me Pepe the Boatman?  No!”

You see the maisonettes on the hillside with their red roofs?  I make those tiles and lay them on the roofs.  They call me Pepe the Tiler?  No!”.

“I shag one lousy sheep….”