Iraq war only blot amid global praise

TONY Blair, a major player on the world stage for a decade, won global praise yesterday for defending Kosovo, fighting poverty in Africa and overseeing peace in Northern Ireland — but came under heavy criticism for championing the US push into Iraq.

Finnish president Tarja Halonen said Mr Blair had been “a significant European leader and innovator for the last decade” who at the start of his tenure increased Britain’s involvement in European integration.

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, credited Mr Blair with taking “Britain from the fringes to the mainstream of the European Union”.