EMBARGOED UNTIL 10AM GMT SUNDAY 29 OCTOBER 2006

Hubris of Blair, Bush leading to incompetent decision-making

Tony Blair’s judgements on Afghanistan and Iraq were erroneous, unstable and unstructured, and reflect the hubris affecting the British Prime Minister, according to Lord David Owen.

Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Lord Owen, a neurologist and Crossbench Peer, argues hubris is affecting decision-making amongst Heads of Government and focuses on the actions of Prime Minister Blair and President Bush.

“There have been incompetent Heads of Government in the past who have shown no signs of hubris and have often lacked for self-confidence,”

writes Lord Owen.

“But there is an acknowledged association between hubris and incompetence in Iraq mentioned by a number of serious commentators. The restless energy of hubris that constantly intervenes does so, often without all the factual information; the excessive self-confidence that does not seek advice or fails to listen to the wisdom of others, makes serious mistakes; and the inattention to detail and focus on the broad brush all combine to associate hubris with incompetence and poor judgement.

“In addition to having this tendency towards incompetence, both Bush and Blair share strong religious beliefs and have an inner certainty that they are men of destiny,”

writes Lord Owen.

Lord Owen’s paper also examines more recent events including President Bush’s ‘Yo, Blair’ comments at the G8 Summit in St Petersburg, the handling of the Lebanon crisis, and Blair’s decision on stepping down in the context of the hubristic nature of both leaders.

A commentary on the psychiatry of hubris also in November issue of the JRSM, however, cautions on the links drawn by Lord Owen.

“Understanding the motivations and mind set of our leaders will be the historian’s task, not the psychiatrist’s,”

writes Professor Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist and Director of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research.

“Owen the doctor gives us some insight into the characters and the motivations of the powerful, but it is Owen the politician who delivers the most compelling verdicts.”

[ends]

Hubris and Nemesis in Heads of Government [PDF 64k]

Commentary: the psychiatry of hubris [PDF 38k]

‘Hubris and Nemesis in Heads of Government’ by D Owen and ‘Commentary: the psychiatry of hubris’ by S Wessely are published in the November 2006 issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

JRSM is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. It has been published continuously since 1809. Its Editor is Dr Kamran Abbasi.