Sydney Blumenthal: The Veneer of Fraternity

Tony Blair's near-fatal political strategy inadvertently but inevitably exposed him to the dilemma of his special relationship with George Bush. Blair had attempted to wage a campaign that skirted Iraq - which voters cited as the overriding issue for their disillusionment, with about only one-third willing to admit that they trusted the prime minister. But his invitation to the voters to vent their frustration at the beginning of the campaign - the so-called masochism strategy - naturally brought their anger over Iraq to the surface. Once he had raised the level of political toxicity, Blair simply froze.
(The Guardian)