The Hindu : International : Holidaying Blair comes under criticism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

International

International

Holidaying Blair comes under criticism

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, DEC 30. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has come in for criticism for continuing to enjoy his "luxury'' holiday in Egypt even as thousands of people, including many Britons, have perished in the tsunami disaster.

While the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and some other Ministers have cut short their vacation and returned home to respond to the relief efforts, Mr. Blair has chosen to direct the "operations'' from his holiday villa prompting criticism of "bad taste,'' if not indifference.

Mr. Blair's only public response, since the disaster struck four days ago, has been a hastily rewritten reference to the tragedy in his New Year message saying his Government was determined to do everything to help the victims of "one of the biggest natural disasters in our lifetime''.

"There are sometimes when we expect our leader to set an example. But for all his flirtation with the Catholic faith, his espousing of `family' values, sadly Mr. Blair has not grasped that sometime you have to lead from the front, and that by returning to the U.K. and acting with dignity on our behalf, he could show us how to mourn for the tens of thousands of anonymous poor throughout the Far East,'' wrote The Independent columnist Janet Street-Porter.

The government raised its aid to £15 million following criticism that it was not doing enough. Private donations have already exceeded the official aid with charities and media organisations setting up their own charity appeals. Raja Jarrah of Care International UK described the scale of the disaster as "unprecedented in my 20 years working in the field'' saying that even experienced international aid agencies had "never encountered'' anything on this scale.

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