After serving as the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister for over 10 years, one of Britain’s youngest leaders ever - Tony Blair — has finally stepped down as the leader of parliament. Though all Blair has been in hot water for the way he handled the whole Iraq crisis, it’s easy to forget that the 55 year-old Edinburgh native was the  witty, compassionate and charismatic leader who led the country in mourning  in the days following Princess Diana’s death in 1997. Blair has been the head of the Labour Party prior to his resignation and has won a stunning streak of three elections. Replacing Blair is the new leader of the Labour Party, Gordon Brown, a long-time ally of Blair but in recent years has become one of his harshest critics.

Though history may not judge Blair favorable given his role in the war against Iraq and his almost reckless loyalty to US President George Bush, the biggest achievement on Blair’s record will probably be his resolution of the Northern Ireland conflict. This conflict between the Protestant and Catholic populations in Northern Ireland has been going on since the 12th century and clearly, much credit should be given to the person who solves the problem. Unfortunately for Blair,  this local issue will be trivialized in the face of international scrutiny and the greater recall value of the still ongoing Iraqi conflict.

Shortly after offering his resignation to the Queen Of England, Blair was appointed as a Middle East envoy to help in the promotion of peace and democracy in the war torn region. There are numerous ongoing conflicts in the area as of present. Aside from the Iraq war, there are also Lebanon-Hezbollah, Israel-Fatah-Hamas-Palestine and inter-sectarian scuffles that Blair needs to get down to. His role in international diplomacy is not yet over and there is good reason to believe that he has just taken his influence to a whole new other level.

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