Mr Tony Blair's long honeymoon with the British people finally ended this week. They still, for the most part, love him. But they suspect that he may not be quite so totally trustworthy as he seemed when they voted him into power last May. The trouble for Mr Blair started earlier this month when his New Labour government suddenly declared that Formula One motor racing should be exempted from an EU ban on tobacco advertising. The decision angered both the EU Commission, which had spent seven years preparing the directive, and anti-smoking groups in Britain, which complained that the government was reneging on a clear pledge in its manifesto.
The high-speed U-turn followed a meeting last month at Downing Street between Mr Blair and two of the main players in Formula One: the billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, effectively the boss of the big-business sport; and Max Mosley, president of Formula One's governing body, the FIA. They claimed that the advertising ban could cost Britain 50,000 full-time and 150,000 part-time jobs, as well as £900,000 a year in exports. And, they warned, the ban would not work anyway, because the sport could base itself outside the EU, with the advertising being beamed back via television. These arguments were dismissed as specious by many observers, but Mr Blair seemed to have found them persuasive.
Then it emerged, after several days' evasion by government spokesmen, that Mr Ecclestone had given the Labour Party £1 million last January - a huge contribution to a party whose election spending over the last year totalled £13 million. Any connection between the Ecclestone donation and the policy U-turn was, of course, denied - and the party said it would now refund the money.
By the middle of this week, despite a row in the Commons, it looked as if Mr Blair had managed to deflate the affair by asking Sir Patrick Neill, the new political standards custodian, to investigate all funding of political parties - a far murkier topic for the Tories than for Labour. But it has now been revealed that Labour, less than two weeks ago, was still considering accepting a second donation from Mr Ecclestone. And yesterday came a reminder that this affair is not just about big business and politics, but about the health of a new generation: the Lancet published a study commissioned by the Cancer Research Campaign which found that boys who enjoy watching Formula One on television are almost twice as likely to start smoking.
It is unlikely that the Formula One affair will make many voters decide that Mr Blair and his party are just as sleaze-ridden as the Conservatives. And as further details emerge, the debacle may prove to have more to do with naivety and misjudgment than with any hint of corruption. Nevertheless, it is a serious matter for a man who campaigned as "Mr Clean" to even appear to be economical with the ethics which he extolled with such evangelical fervour. And it is unsettling for many to see the leader of the Labour Party being quite so friendly with conspicuously rich entrepreneurs. As one British commentator wrote: "Money talks to this Labour government in a way that confirms the most cynical view of the political process." All of a sudden, Mr Blair's white halo looks tobacco-stained.