Mr Blair's unsought fight
For all his tough talking, the prime minister has done his utmost to avoid a confrontation with the fire-fighters
IT'S a testament to how things have changed that, after nearly five and a half years in office, it is only now that the government is facing its first serious bout of union militancy. Not only does it have much at stake in its scrap with the bolshie leadership of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which plans to strike next week, but it is also entering largely uncharted political waters.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Mr Blair's unsought fight”
From the October 26th 2002 edition
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