Richard Ingrams' Week: Blair can turn Catholic, but will he truly confess?

Saturday, 19 May 2007

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Reports that Tony Blair is about to become a Roman Catholic have resurfaced since he announced his retirement. That distinguished and well-informed pundit Mr Anthony Howard has pronounced to that effect and top people's priest Fr Michael Seed of Westminster Cathedral has appeared to confirm the story.

"To receive Mr Blair into the fold would be a triumph for the Roman Catholic Church," says one newspaper this week, confidently predicting that the move is now imminent.

I wonder. Blair is currently regarded with enormous contempt by the majority of people in this country. They no longer trust him; they suspect him, with justification, of deceit and hypocrisy on a massive scale. Above all they hold him responsible, again with justification, of committing this country to an illegal war.

Now if Mr Blair were publicly to confess that he had been guilty of all manner of sins and wickedness and was seeking absolution and praying for forgiveness from Almighty God then that might possibly amount to what they are calling a triumph for the Roman Catholic Church.

But Blair has never shown the slightest sign of thinking in these terms. He continues to insist, like the disgraced president of the World Bank Mr Paul Wolfowitz, that he acted in good faith. He did what he thought was right. There has never been the smallest hint from Blair that although at the time he thought it was right, he now realises it was the wrong thing to do and that he regrets it.

It is hard to see how the recruitment of such a man could be regarded as any kind of triumph - unless, that is, the Church is nowadays more interested in converting celebs and VIPs than it is in spreading the word.

Soldiers are there to obey orders

Prince Harry is "disappointed" about the Army's decision not to post him to Iraq. However, he has no intention of leaving the Army, he says. Bully for him.

There is something a little odd to any old soldier's ears about a serving officer publicly giving his opinion about the orders issued to him by his superiors. Anyone else would be expected just to say "yes sir", salute and march quietly away.

If Harry was going to make his views public he might perhaps have said that he completely understood the Army's decision and that he had no wish to endanger the lives of those serving with him just because of who he is.

To date Harry has said nothing at all on those lines. Nor, as far as I know, have any other ranks publicly expressed their willingness to risk their lives on his behalf and their disappointment at not now being allowed to have that privilege.

You don't have to read between the lines to realise that what we have here is a spoilt young man who is very annoyed at not being allowed to do what he wants. Considering his parentage that is not to be wondered at.

And as for the Army, they have got enough problems already without having to deal with this one. Especially now that they'll have to try to stop Harry from getting into any more late-night drunken brawls with photographers. You could cashier an officer for doing that sort of thing, but not this one alas.

I was sent a free DVD earlier this week with the compliments of an organisation called Freedom TV of which I had not previously heard. Only the address (St Hill Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex) at the foot of the accompanying letter contained a clue - East Grinstead being well known as hosting the imposing headquarters of the "Church" of Scientology, above.

Cults like scientology have long been in the habit of changing their name from time to time in the hope of attracting the gullible. But Freedom TV is particularly rich coming from an organisation that has been accused over the years of enslaving its converts and separating them from their families with disastrous results.

Referring to the "Church" of Scientology I put the word church in inverted commas because this is another slightly more serious misuse of language with intent to mislead the public.

Whatever it is, scientology is very definitely not a church. It has no God, no churches, no priests or bishops, no form of worship, no prayers. Yet by the simple dodge of calling it a church, the founder of scientology the notorious conman, L Ron Hubbard, and his successors have managed to persuade a great many important people, including the American government, that it is a bona fide religion deserving the status of a charity. (Hubbard even incorporated a cross in the logo of the "church" hoping, presumably, to give the impression that there was some kind of link with Christianity which there is not and never has been.)

The Freedom DVD I should say was an attack on Monday's Panorama programme on which reporter John Sweeney blew his top when continually provoked by some especially obnoxious American scientologist. Sweeney's rage was perfectly understandable and it was just a pity that with its new dumbed-down 30-minute formula, Panorama was unable to deal with this story at greater length.