Like Jean Calder I do not particularly like Tony Blair.

However, certain facts need to be pointed out.

Blair's record of three successive election victories is unheard of in Labour Party terms.

It was people of Jean Calder's political persuasion who doomed the three previous Labour administrations.

The Left has never accepted that unilateral nuclear disarmament is a vote loser - as Messrs Foot and Kinnock found to their cost.

I can remember certain councils, including Brighton, which placed irrelevant nuclear-free zone signs around their boundaries.

Reform in the NHS is vital. It is inevitable the service is reformed.

Unfortunately, it is suffering like a pre-1980 nationalised industry.

It's awash with red tape, bureaucrats and antiquated working systems.

Irresponsible scare stories spread by people - usually on the Left - have cowed previous governments from vital changes.

Yes, it is sad when prisoners die. But it is Blair's Government's record on crime and his signing of the Human Rights Act which is sadder.

The Northern Ireland peace process was actually started by John Major. But Blair's perseverance must be applauded.

Again the Left has usually been soft on terror, as its support for Irish republican and Middle Eastern groups shows.

Yes, no one in their right mind approves of sleaze. Blair produced a rod for his own back when in opposition by promising his government would be sleaze free.

However, one can remember the Labour councils in Liverpool in the Eighties and the other left-wing councils which first brought political correctness to our shores.

Four years ago, Adam Trimingham advised Blair to quit. Had he done so he would be remembered a lot more affectionately than he will be now.

But his legacy will be greater than Wilson or Callaghan, whose Governments were destroyed by left-wing militants.

  • Richard J Szypulski, Lavender Street, Brighton