Kino Eye: Putting Blair "on trial"

Submitted by martin on 21 September, 2021 - 6:47 Author: John Cunningham
Reg Keys

In June 2003, Reg and Sally Keys sit down to watch the news on TV. Six British soldiers have just died that day in Iraq and one of them is Tom, their 20 year old son. Reg is told by Tom’s commanding officer that prior to the fatal operation his unit had been “descaled” (vital equipment had been removed).

Reg then hears that the so-called “weapons of mass destruction” do not exist, and he decides to stand against Blair in the 2005 general election, to expose the war that was “based on a lie”.  Jimmy McGovern adopted Reg’s story for the BBC with Tim Roth playing the bereaved father. The film Reg was broadcast in 2016, just before the release of the Chilcot Report.

The drama follows Reg’s campaign in Blair’s Sedgefield constituency and his repeated attempts to meet Blair, which are always refused. On election night Reg confronts Blair on the platform. Mixing archive footage with dramatic action, Blair remains stone-faced in the background as Reg exposes his duplicity and lies.

Grief-stricken, Sally Keys died in 2011. Tony Blair has consistently refused to meet Reg and, to this day, has still to offer any explanation or apology for his actions.

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