I'm with the OP. I think some people might have forgotten that Blair resigned as PM at a time when he was very deeply unpopular with the electorate. If he hadn't resigned, he would without a shadow of a doubt, have been ousted by the Party - who clearly saw him as a liability.
I still believe that he's a liability. So I'm mystified as to why he's suddenly appeared in the limelight - I can only assume that the self-promoting egocentric charlatan, has elbowed himself there.
And I don't buy that the only person known to have been slowed-clapped off the stage by the Womens Institute, was a 'great communicator'. I suspect any appeal he might have had, was based on him appearing like the nice guy next door - you never quite knew what he was on about, but he seemed like a genuine sort of guy.
Now people just see him as the self-serving cheating liar that he always was.