The Great Moderation

Tony Blair's government has changed this country fundamentally. Mass immigration, gay rights, independence of the Bank of England, devolution, our interventionist foreign policy doctrine, an uncertain future for our relationship with the United States - Britain is very different as a result of this Prime Minister's tenure.

But is it right to assess Mr Blair by looking at what he changed? Perhaps his greatest achievement is what he didn't change.

It is often regarded as Mr Blair's failing that with such a large majority he altered so little. And I certainly concur that his reform, say, of public services was disappointing and that bureaucracy and regulation has grown due as much to sins of omission as to sins of commission.

Yet this failing has its good side, too. Tony Blair has been a moderate Prime Minister. He has presided over a period of stability. This morning Mary Ann Sieghart rather astutely compared him to Harold Macmillan.

Gerard Baker wrote a brilliant column earlier this year about the era we now live in. Forget Mr Blair's claims to have been a radical Prime minister. I think he will be forever associated with the Great Moderation.