Blair, Tony

(1953– )

   Tony Blair began his leadership of the Labour Party in July 1994 and became Prime Minister in May 1997. Having entered the House of Commons in 1983 as Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, he rose to prominence after the 1992 election, serving as an opposition spokesman successively on trade and industry, energy, employment and home affairs. In 1997, he led Labour to a landslide victory and became the youngest person to enter Ten Downing Street as premier since Lord Liverpool in 1812. He was Labour’s longest-serving Prime Minister, having won a second landslide in 2001 and a third victory with a substantial majority in 2005. He is the only person to have led the party to three consecutive election victories. Prior to the 2005 election, he announced that he would stand down at some point before the next, held on or before 3 June 2010.

   Tony Blair is portrayed by admirers and critics as the main architect of New Labour and as moving the party towards the centre ground in British politics. Steps along the way included the rewriting of Clause IV of the party’s constitution, support for a market economy rather than the traditional Labour policy of nationalisation, and pursuit of a third way. He claimed to have retained the party’s traditional values but to have brought them into line with present-day circumstances and reality. Opponents believe that he placed insufficient emphasis on traditional Labour priorities such as the redistribution of wealth and the pursuit of greater equality of outcome. They feel that he was harsh on its traditional backers, the trade unions and many workers in the public services, and too willing to cultivate business leaders and the voters of Middle England.

   Following the advent of the war on terror, Tony Blair was much concerned with external affairs, especially issues concerning Iraq. He supported many aspects of the Bush foreign policy, sending British forces to participate in the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation. Opponents found it hard to forgive him for the stance he adopted, not least because they feel that they were misled about the threat posed by the regime of Saddam Hussein and the existence of weapons of mass destruction. As his time in office drew to a close, opponents found themselves at odds with other policies, be they antiterrorism laws, ID cards and the commitment to modernise the structure and approach of the public services, especially in educational and health provision. Allegations of sleaze proved additionally damaging to his reputation, particularly early in the third administration when the loans for peerages story unfolded. Tony Blair stood down as Labour leader on 24 June 2007 and resigned as Premier three days later. He was appointed Steward and Baliff of the Chiltern Hundreds, thus disqualified from continuing as an MP. On the same day, he was appointed as the official envoy of the Quartet (the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia) in the Middle East.

   See also: Blairism, Cabinet Office, Ecclestone affair, Iraq war, presidential government, prime ministerial government

   Further reading: P. Hennessy, The Prime Minister, Allen Lane, 2000; P. Riddell, The Unfulfilled Prime Minister, Politico’s, 2005; A. Seldon, Blair, Free Press, 2004