Tony Blair

Most political careers end in defeat or tears, or both.

Tony Blair is the first Prime Minister in history to choose his own date for departing office, on his terms.

Three times an election winner, he has faced and trounced 5 ("five"), that is 5, Conservative leaders who I struggle to remember - John Major, William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, David Cameron, and....the other one. (Michael "something of the night about him" Howard). And he has led shoulder to shoulder with 2 American presidents.

He has infuriated his critics on the right, who hate losing so frequently, and those on the left, who either wish the world hadn't changed, or live in some strange place called planet Chomsky, or planet Pinter, or Hampstead.

The point about Blair is to see him clearly where he stands, at the centre of things, as a restless reformer and dazzling communicator.

What are his achievements after 10 years as Prime Minister of "the greatest nation on earth"?

• He created the minimum wage in the UK.

• For those unable to find work, job creation has never ceased - for anyone in Britain willing to roll up their sleeves, and for Eastern Europeans who make no conditions.

• We have stopped worrying about the economy. Stability is a given. Gordon Brown will claim credit for this, but Chancellors are not Prime Ministers - they have power, but not ultimate responsibility.

• Blair promised spending on "education, education, education". It has risen by 4% every year since he took office.

• He has relentlessly brought spending on healthcare to a level we can defend - a European average of 8.25% of GDP.

• He has pioneered credits for lower income families. He has helped millions of women back into the job market, and given fathers the chance of spending early months with their children. Does this one sound familiar? It is the song that David Cameron now sings.

• He has helped create peace and governance in Northern Ireland

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• He has helped create only the second democracy in the Middle East, ever. After Israel. You may scoff at this one. But, in history, no two democracies have ever gone to war with each other. It is not his fault that Iraq is, was, and ever will be, tribal. The Balkans of the Middle East. The fact is that this was hidden from view and suppressed by Saddam Hussein, much like Stalin or Lenin in Russia suppressed, well, pretty much everything. Freedom is not free, and the harsh currency is blood.

• Who would have thought that a Kurd, Jalal Talabani, whose people were suppressed in 1991 and fled to the mountains to die in the cold, would stand today as President of Iraq? Blair thought so. A brief sweet moment in a bitter period, was Saddam going to his grave knowing that Iraq has a Kurdish president. Harold Pinter may wish to pause and reflect on that one, and say thank you to Tony Blair for bringing the Mountain Language into the seat of government, no longer forbidden.

• He helped win the Olympic games for London, which I believe will leave a 30 year regeneration legacy for East London. I really believe that. I have put my name down as a volunteer for the Games.

• He was a driving force behind the Commission for Africa.

What will we think of Tony Blair in a few years? Much what America now thinks of Bill Clinton - those were the days my friend, those were the days, and that was a master politician.

And as for being George Bush's poodle. That is just laughable. He was George Bush's guide dog.

My family and cousins will ask me, "But what has he done for Cyprus?" I'll say, "Good catch, I'll give you that one. But what have we done?"