Blair's heartwarming Christmas message

In an astonishing piece, apparently leaked to today's Observer, notorious war criminal Tony Blair appears to make an amazing U-turn with respect to policy. From now on, as he puts it, 'the basic liberties of the law-abiding citizen should come first' - something that should perhaps give some hope this Christmas to the law-abiding British citizens currently illegally detained in Camp Xray at Guantanomo Bay, and at Belmarsh prison.

Clearly thinking of the families of those who had been arrested and then imprisoned with out trial in Blair's quasi police state, he makes the incredible further statement that 'citizens should not live in fear'. Moreover, with respect to his disasterous policy in Iraq, which has left tens of thousands of innocent people dead, Blair admits that 'the most fundamental liberty of all' is 'freedom from harm by others'.

Perhaps more staggeringly, Blair praises Christian socialist RH Tawney, who once said that 'a large measure of equality, so far from being inimical to liberty, is essential to it' - in what is perhaps a signal to those thinking of leaving the Labour Party in protest at the fact that social inequality in Britain today is worse than it was under Thatcher.

In what can be interpreted as a clear attack on the power of the new corporate rich, Blair notes that in Britain 'at the start of the 20th century, communities shared a strong moral code. By the end of the century this was no longer as true.' Yet 'social democratic thought was always the application of morality to political philosophy...People must live together and one of the basic tasks of government is to facilitate this living together, to ensure that the many can live without fear of the few.'

With 'making poverty history' a clear goal of Blair's, he even takes time to praise his political opponents in the Respect coalition - noting that 'the 'Respect' action plan which will be published in January will set out in more detail the new suite of powers and policies to go further and faster to tackle the problems.'