Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, is little known outside of the small Balkan nation he leads, but his effect on the country, in the year he has been in office, has been outsize. Coming into office as a left-wing leader after two decades of conservative rule, the former artist has invigorated Albania and made it “cool”.
Albanians, most of whom are under 40, have swooned as their telegenic prime minister is courted by Western leaders like Barack Obama, showered with applause for his speeches and subjected to flattering media profiles.
If that story sounds familiar to Britons, then few will be surprised to hear that Tony Blair has been advising Mr Rama since before his election victory last June. Mr Blair, of course, had a similar political trajectory, coming into office in 1997 with a landslide after two decades of conservative rule. Mr Blair is widely credited with spearheading “Cool Britannia”, a period of prosperity and creative explosion in the few years after he took office.
Part of that prosperity, Britons will now say ruefully, was built on gloss and image, money without substance, an economy whose foundations imploded in the worldwide crash of 2008.
Which brings us to Egypt, where, as part of a UAE-financed task force, Mr Blair will advise the new government of Egypt on economic reform. To be fair to Mr Blair – whose reputation in the Middle East has never recovered from the Iraq war and his woeful tenure as Middle East envoy – his advice to Egypt could be welcome. Mr Blair himself set about turning around the UK’s fortunes, to some success. And the gloss he has added to Mr Rama’s politics has had a real world effect: there is a noticeable economic boost from people feeling optimistic about their country’s future, as Albanians now do. Certainly, such enthusiasm and optimism is needed in Egypt after three years of upheaval.
But what is really needed is genuine, deep, lasting reform. Abdel Fattah El Sisi has a mammoth task in turning around the Arab world’s largest country. Too many years of promises have been wasted. It is to be hoped that Mr Blair understands this and gives the Egyptians sound advice on policy, not merely on presentation.
It will take more than gloss, spin and sharp suits to make Egypt the powerhouse it deserves to be.