After a decade in power, Tony Blair has stepped down as the UK’s Prime Minister, and has been replace by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

I have always had mixed feelings about Tony Blair. It’s fashionable to complain about him — but Brits are world-class whingers anyway, and love to complain about anyone and anything.

I think he’s generally done a good job; he’s fulfilled a lot of the promises he made a decade ago, pumping billions of pounds into education, transport and the National Health Service, and overseeing a very long period of sustained economic growth.

On the other hand, Britain is a breathtakingly expensive country, and has become a surveillance society