Everyone knew that Blair was going to resign after this month's local elections, that the leadership contest would be an open and shut case with only one likely winner and that, ultimately, Brown would squeeze into Blair's shoes in order to push the very same policies.
So what is all the big fuss about, then?
Bad for their business
First and foremost, this is political show business ...at its worst. We are supposed to think that the "great man" is leaving out of his own free choice, having given the "best of himself to the nation", as he more or less said in his farewell speech.
What a joke! Only a few years ago, Blair was still expressing his hopes to beat Thatcher's 12-year record in office. So why is he leaving now, after just over 10 years in office?
The truth, on the contrary, is that Blair has been forced out of his job by his own people. After a decade at Labour's helm, the wonder boy of "New Labourism" has become too much of an electoral liability, at the very time when the Tories are re-emerging, at last, after so many years in the political wilderness.
Brown camouflage required
From 1997 onwards, the Tories' utter discredit allowed Labour to enjoy a lot of support among middle class voters. As a result, Blair was able to top the polls in three elections in a row. But Cameron's "fresh face" means that these days are probably over, by now. And there is not much Labour can do about this - not even by trying to pull its usual trick of outbidding the Tories to their right, over such things as law and order.
So, if Labour was to avoid being reduced to sawdust in the next general election, another strategy had to be found - by trying to regain the support of a section, at least, of the huge numbers of working class voters who stopped bothering to vote since 2005, if not before. The question was - how this could be done, given that Labour's record, especially over Iraq, public services, social housing, welfare, casualisation, etc.., has been an extremely effective repellant, keeping these workers away from the party?
The answer to this riddle came plain and simple: get rid of Blair, blame it all on him and then, carry on with the same policies, possibly with a slightly modified language.
Good riddance, sure, but...
Far be it from us, of course, to suggest that one single tear should be shed over Blair's fate!
For the past ten years, Blair has been one of the most arrogant and sanctimonious proponents of reactionary attacks, waged both against working people in this country and against entire populations in the Middle East. This will not be easily forgotten.
Anyway, for Blair, it is merely a "career change", which might propel him into the world of company boardrooms - like his predecessor John Major - or into the world of international institutions, like former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
But one should not lose sight of our real enemies - the capitalist class and their profit system. Blair was only a representative among others, a muppet-in the hands of his rich masters in the City. And those who will take over from him at the end of this month, Brown and his allies, will be another set of rich men's muppets, just as the Tories and Lib Dems are - muppets which are not even funny, because their only function is to meet the desires of the City by turning the screw on the vast majority of the population.
...Our target is the puppet-masters
Whatever Brown and his like may claim in the coming weeks and months in their attempt to revamp the image of their party, we will remember that these were the men and the women who supported every single one of Blair's policies, whether on pensions, or on the war in Iraq, right from day one.
Stopping the muppet show which is played out at our expense, will take more than changing a few faces at the top, be it Blair's, or Brown's. It will take an all-out counter-offensive of the working class against this class of greedy capitalists, which has become far too greedy for its own good, an certainly for our collective welfare. That fight is what we need to prepare for, together.