I remember election night 1997. I stayed up into the early hours of the morning cheering as the extent of the Tory defeat became apparent. I clearly remember the joy of seeing Michael Portillo defeated by Stephen Twigg. The next morning the sun was shining, Tony Blair was in Downing Street and I really believed that things could only get better.

My one regret was that I couldn't be with Tony Blair to shake his hand.

Where did it all go so wrong?

It began with the economy. During the election Blair had used the rhetoric of the Tories - but few of us believed him. We assumed it was just an election ploy, that he'd discard it once he was Prime Minister. Yet instead he embraced the language of the unfettered market and failed to reverse any of the disastrous Tory privatisations.

Still there were some high points: the introduction of a minimum wage, devolution for Scotland, incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law. So I was a little disappointed with some aspects of Blair's government but generally happy.

Then came 911 and the authoritarian wing of the Blair government seized on it as an opportunity. The talk of compulsory ID Cards began almost immediately.

911 was probably the defining moment of Blair's regime. Would he stand up to authoritarians like David Blunkett and defend our liberties, or would he sacrifice them on the altar of supposed security? He chose the latter - and lost my support. The UK derogated from Article 5 of the ECHR, undermining Blair's greatest achievement and paving the way for internment without trial.

Following 911 George W Bush decided to invade Iraq. It was obvious that 911 had nothing to do with Iraq but simply provided an excuse. For Blair to go along with this seemed unbelievable. The idea that he might do so without a UN resolution - collaborate in an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation - was mind-boggling. I was one of the million people who marched through the streets of London in a protest that Blair simply ignored.

As predicted, the invasion of Iraq didn't make the world a safer place - it made it a much more dangerous one. Blair's response was a steady erosion of our civil liberties, the worst being the ongoing plan to impose compulsory National Identity Cards and a huge, intrusive National Identity Register (NIR).

Apparently emboldened by his success in exploiting the terrorist threat, Blair - initially through Blunkett - extended his attacks on traditional freedoms into other areas: removal of the double jeopardy protection, attempts to restrict the right to trial by jury , constant attacks on the presumption of innocence and much, much more. In the name of protecting British society Blair has ripped up some of its most important foundations - the freedoms which people spent centuries fighting for have been discarded in a decade.

So this afternoon I'll be watching Tony Blair drive to Buckingham Palace and resign as PM. I'll be cheering as loudly as I was ten years ago.

My only regret will be that I can't be with Tony Blair to spit in his face.

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Labels: civil liberties, Tony Blair