The knighthood of Tony Blair is a slap in the face for all the naïve people who still believe that British democracy is anything more than a tool to maintain the elite status of a tiny minority. The fantasy of accountability and every vote matters is simply a romanticised fiction, promoted by those with vested interests, to ensure that the abusers of power are never brought to account for their crimes against the world and even their own people.

Tony Blair has become a symbol of hatred for Muslims all over the world due to his open and continued support for America’s war on Islam. He is also despised by many at home for his deceitful support of America’s invasion of Iraq and his disregard of the British public opposition to the war. Family members of British soldiers killed in Iraq have called him a terrorist and said that he should be brought to trial for murder. Instead, he is honoured as a close companion of the monarch. British governments and their prime ministers have always followed colonialist foreign policies to the detriment of the colonised Muslims overseas, but few in recent times have been so open in their support for brutal dictators and their contempt for the colonised masses as Tony Blair.

Colonialism in the 21st century was supposed to be less direct and under the pretence of the Western powers merely providing support for the colonised people’s transition to democracy. The fact that foreign policy mainly serves the narrow interests of an elite group is not supposed to be acknowledged publicly. Many in government cringed at George Bush’s labelling his war on terror as a crusade, but not Tony Blair. This rang true for him as it did for Bush and his neocon buddies; for them it really was a crusade against Islam and Muslims, driven by deep hatred and religious zeal.

Just in Iraq alone Bush and Blair’s war directly led to more than 100,000 deaths, 60% of whom were civilians. The death toll in Afghanistan is over double that, with at least 70,000 classified as civilians. Yet these statistics do not even begin to describe the horrors inflicted on the colonised civilians whose lives are destroyed by the dictators that the Western leaders are so keen to support. Tony Blair himself has warmly met with many murderous dictators and warmongers including Bashar Al-As’ad, Muammar Ghadafi, Binyamin Netanyahu and Hosni Mubarak, despite the brutality such rulers were inflicting even at the time of his visit. After leaving office he transitioned to become a diplomat, meeting with more dictators to further Britain’s colonial interests. He met with Nursultan Nazarbayev and Abdul Fattah Sisi, both of whose hands are dripping with blood. James Wolfensohn, Mr Blair’s predecessor as Quartet representative told the Independent newspaper “For Tony Blair to say, ‘I would like to talk to you about the [Middle East] peace process’ is a very different entry point, to saying ‘I would like to get an oil concession in the east of your country for a client’ or ‘I would like to become an adviser to your country.’”

The yearly honours list much like the Nobel peace prize have been questioned by many who see them include politicians who serve colonial and political agendas of the elites. Barack ‘drone strikes’ Obama and Jimmy ‘ineffective president’ Carter were rewarded for fulfilling the colonial agenda of the US.

In the UK many ordinary citizens may be tempted by the publicity and recognition of receiving an honours, but this outdated practice with its origins in empire is not really a medal of honour and a number of individuals have turned down an honour as they saw it as the last vestiges of the British Empire, an empire that raped and pilliged many lands in the world.

The fact that someone whose hands are still dripping with blood can be conferred an honour shows the vestiges of the British Empire and those that serve it are still alive.