Tony Blair

Tony Blair at a Labour Party meeting in 2005.

Tony Blair (born 6th May 1953) served as Labour Party Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007; he won general elections in 1997, 2001 and 2005, the first two by landslide majorities. Internationally, he was best known for his close alliance with presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, making the United Kingdom a firm ally in the American-led war in Iraq. Blair spearheaded NATO action in Kosovo, and promoted worldwide concern about the state of Africa, which he famously called "a scar on the conscience of the world". Domestically, his legacy included the abolition of the historic Socialist commitment to state ownership of major industries as a fundamental tenet of his ('New') Labour Party, devolved government in Scotland and Wales, and a successful end the armed conflict in Northern Ireland. Blair entered office on a wave of public optimism, but after ten dramatic years of controversy and mixed success, he ended his run with a low standing in public trust. He resigned from both office and Parliament in June 2007, handing over to his long-time rival and key partner Gordon Brown. Currently he is an envoy for the Quartet on the Middle East, working to bring about a 'two-state' solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, while also acting as adviser to various organisations. He founded a faith-based organisation in 2008 dedicated to promoting what it regards as the merits of religion as one solution to worldwide conflict.

Current career

Middle East envoy

On 27th July 2007, just a few hours after Blair stood down as Prime Minister, it was announced that he had accepted an appointment as a special Middle East envoy. Blair's experience as a Prime Minister might have made him an uncontroversial choice for a Middle East envoy, were he not also one of the main architects of the Iraq War. His appointment by the 'Quartet' of the USA, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union was welcomed by Israel and broadly by the Palestinian Authority, but opposed by the militant Islamic fundamentalist Hamas organisation which currently controls the Gaza Strip. Blair's official role is to work with the Palestinian people to develop the infrastructure and the economy, with the goal of creating a Palestinian state; his initial brief does not include the wider conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

Advisory role

In early 2008, Blair accepted a position at the U.S. investment bank JP Morgan as a part time senior advisor. He followed the example laid by former Conservative Party Prime Minister John Major, who joined private equity firm Carlyle Group in 1998.

In 2010, the UK media reported that Blair had also been paid for one-off advice by a South Korean energy company with extensive oil interests in Iraq. Blair was accused of spending two years keeping the payments, but the position had been cleared by a UK political panel that oversaw the financial activities of former government members. At the same time, a £1 million deal with the Kuwaiti government to act in an advisory role, dating back to 2008, also came to light. Again, this position had been cleared by a UK committee, though both attracted criticism from various figures in politics and the media. The two-year delay in announcing the role apparently occurred at the request of the Kuwaiti authorities. Media reports continued to circulate regarding Blair's investments and companies, including one licensed to trade in low-tax regimes, amidst claims that he had exploited a tax law loophole that allowed substantial earnings to remain undisclosed.

Tony Blair Faith Foundation

Currently Tony Blair also runs the 'Tony Blair Faith Foundation', which "aims to promote respect and understanding about the world's major religions and show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world.".

Early life

"...he was an expert at testing the rules to the limit, and I wouldn't swear that he stuck rigidly to the rules on not drinking, smoking or breaking bounds. But he was a live wire and fun to have around." Eric Anderson, Tony Blair's housemaster at Fettes "He even wanted to rehearse." Mark Ellen, member of the band Ugly Rumours, on lead singer Tony Blair's ambitions to be a rock musician.

The second son of Leo Blair and Hazel Blair, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born on 6th May 1953 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has an elder brother, William, who is a barrister and a Queen's Counsel (QC), and a younger sister, Sarah. The family lived first in Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of the city.

Leo Blair was the illegitimate son of two travelling variety performers, Celia Rideway (a singer and dancer) and Charles Parsons (a comedian and escapologist whose stage name 'Jimmy Lynton' is remembered in Tony Blair's middle names). Leo was first fostered and then adopted by friends Mary and James Blair, who raised Leo in the Govan areaa of Glasgow. James Blair was a shipyard worker, and Mary Blair was an active Communist, who was known for vandalising walls with left-wing graffiti; nevertheless, Blair would later draw upon his family history to speak of his adoptive grandmother's time as an era of "respect" and an inspiration for his community policy of the same name, which aimed to tackle 'anti-social behaviour' (such as graffiti). Blair's use of 1930's Govan as an example of a strong community was strongly criticised by some former residents, who recalled an impoverished area, blighted by crime, and Mary Blair as a strong supporter of peace movements and and socialism.

Hazel Blair was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher who came from a family of Protestant farmers in County Donegal, Ireland. George Corscadden had moved to Glasgow in 1916, but had returned to Ballyshannon in 1923, where Hazel was born.

Between 1955 and 1959, Leo and Hazel Blair and the infant Tony lived in Australia, where Leo lectured in law at the University of Adelaide. On returning to Britain, they lived for a time with Hazel Blair's stepfather, William McClay, and her mother in Stepps, near Glasgow, until Leo found a job as a lecturer at Durham University. Tony spent the rest of his childhood in Durham, England, where he attended Durham's Chorister School. Leo had political ambitions - as a youth he had been secretary of the Scottish Young Communist League - but he became chairman of the local Conservative association, and began to campaign as a Conservative candidate for Parliament; during this campaign, in 1963, Leo had a stroke that left him partially paralysed.

With his father disabled, Blair was sent to Fettes College, an elite private boarding school in Edinburgh. Dr Eric Anderson, his housemaster at Fettes, said "He was intensely argumentative and every school rule was questioned: he could uphold his side of the debate about the rights and wrongs of everything better than any boy in the school." Nevertheless, he was once given "six of the best" for persistently flouting the school rules, and was was threatened with expulsion..

After Fettes, Blair spent a year in London, supporting himself by stacking shelves at Barkers food hall, in Kensington, before entering Oxford University to study jurisprudence at St John's College. As a student, he played guitar and was lead singer for a rock band called 'Ugly Rumours', something he appeared to take quite seriously. Just after graduating from Oxford with a second class degree, his mother Hazel died of cancer, which appears to have affected Blair greatly. He began to develop a more thoughtful side, started talking about left wing politics, and became more serious about his Christian faith, taking confirmation classes.

Blair became a member of Lincoln's Inn, the oldest of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong. While enrolled as a pupil barrister, specialising in employment and commercial law, Blair was introduced by his mentor Derry Irvine to Cherie Booth (daughter of actor Tony Booth). Tony Blair married Cherie, a practising Roman Catholic on 29th March 1980; Cherie was a high-flying barrister, with a first class degree in law, who was to become a Queen's Counsel.

Unusually among students in the early 1970s, Blair seems to have avoided drugs, and there are few reports of him being incapacitated by drink. However, he smoked cigarettes, a habit that Cherie made him give up; he smoked his last cigarette fifteen minutes before their wedding.

Tony and Cherie have four children (Euan, Nicky, Kathryn and Leo). Leo (born 20th May 2000) was the first legitimate child of a serving Prime Minister in over 150 years, since Francis Russell was born to Lord John Russell on 11th July 1849.

Political outlook

Although he seldom spoke of his religious beliefs, Tony Blair has said that his political outlook is inseparable from them. His awareness of religion was stimulated while he was at Oxford by Peter Thomson (an Anglican priest and mature student at the time) of whom he has written "whatever good that I have done, he inspired it". Peter Thomson introduced him to the works of the little-known Scottish philosopher John Macmurray, including an analysis of the relation between the individual and the state that is in many ways similar to communitarianism. Tony Blair came to see the state as a means of helping the individual to "overcome limitations unfairly imposed by poverty, poor education, poor health, housing and welfare". That belief persisted throughout his political career, but his perception of how to achieve those objectives underwent considerable change. He saw the Labour party as a potential instrument for their achievement, but only if it discarded much of its existing ideology. Even in 1983, when he had ideas on nationalisation that he would later have viewed with derision, he had seen his party as "out of its time" and he was soon to decide to leave it if it did not change. He knew little at that time about the practice of politics, but was to learn much from the following ten years of close association with the more experienced Gordon Brown, of whom he has written "he taught me the business of politics in roughly the same way as Derry taught me the business of the Bar".

Early party and parliamentary career

Soon after graduating from Oxford in 1975, Tony Blair joined the Labour Party, and ran unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1982 in the safe Conservative constituency of Beaconsfield. At the 1983 UK general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield, County Durham. He and Gordon Brown were recognised by the party leadership as the most able of the new entry of MPs and they were soon appointed to posts in support of its Shadow Cabinet, and in 1988 Tony Blair joined the shadow cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment. In that rôle, he gained the party's acceptance of the European Union's Social Charter and by doing so, ended its support for the closed shop. Throughout this time, he was developing a reputation as a moderniser, frequently appearing in the media. Although he supported Neil Kinnock's successful fight, as party leader, against the party's left-wing extremists, Tony Blair became impatient with the pace of change and he tried unsuccessfully to persuade John Smith to challenge Neil Kinnock's leadership (and subsequently to persuade Gordon Brown to challenge John Smith's leadership). By 1992, after the party had been defeated in a succession of four general elections, many of its members had come to accept that its policies had to change because they were making it unelectable. That was not enough for Tony Blair, however: he advocated change "not because we have to, but because we want to".

When John Smith died unexpectedly in 1994, Gordon Brown confidently expected to succeed him, but Tony Blair had come to believe that he had something that Gordon Brown lacked, and they became potential rivals for the leadership. But it became evident that Gordon Brown had no chance of victory over Tony Blair, and after a series of meetings that Tony Blair has described as difficult but not unfriendlly, Gordon Brown agreed to step aside and support Tony Blair's candidature.

Leader of the Labour Party, 1994-2007

New Labour

Clause IV of the constitution of the Labour Party declared that one of the aims of the party was: To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service. The new version reads: The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few. Where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe. And where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.

Tony Blair was elected as leader in July 1994, and in 1995 he persuaded the party to amend its constitution. At its annual conference that year, it duly voted to amend clause IV of its constitution (see box), which had been in place since 1918. There was a recognition that, although it no longer played a significant part in the party's policies, that formal commitment to nationalisation had been a factor in its unpopularity. For Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the amendment which removed it symbolised a set of policies that they were determined that the party should adopt, and which they termed "New Labour". The new policies were to include the acceptance of Margaret Thatcher's trade union law; acceptance of the Conservative governments' privatisations of the public utilities; renewed investment in, and reform of, the public services; and even-handedness between business and labour. That package was eventually accepted - with some reluctance - by the party's National Executive Committee.

Election campaign

Having won over the labour party, Tony Blair's next task was to win over the electorate. He had himself become well-known and popular, but the public were suspicious of his party's policies. To impress upon the electorate the fact that there had been a genuine change of policy, the party adopted five pledges: not to raise income tax, to cut class sizes, to reduce health service waiting lists, and to stick to their predecessors spending plans for two years. The marketing techniques that had been introduced by Saatchi and Saatchi to the Conservative party's 1979 campaign were extended by a team of enthusiatic amateurs, including the former journalist, Alastair Campbell. A factor in the party's 1992 defeat was thought to have been the influence of a hostile press and, in particular, the humiliating treatment suffered by Neil Kinnock at the hands of the high-circulation Sun newspaper. Campbell was convinced of the need to avoid a repetition, and he and Tony Blair devoted much effort to winning over those newspapers that had been hostile to Labour. They succeeded in persuading The Sun, but none of the others, to change sides. In fact the evidence suggests that, although intensely partisan, the British press does not have much influence upon election outcomes, and it does not seem likely that their success affected the outcome.

The outcome broke a number of records. More Labour MPs (419) were elected than ever before, and the Conservatives were left with fewer seats (165) than at any time since 1906. In terms of votes, however, the result was unremarkable. At 44.4 per cent, Labour's share of the vote was lower than at any election between 1945 and 1966, and its lead over the Conservatives was less than that secured by the Conservatives over Labour in 1983 . The apparent success of the campaign team's efforts was to have a continuing influence, however. Throughout most of his premiership, Tony Blair was to rely more upon the team of Campbell, Powell, Hunter, Morgan, Mandelson and Gould, than upon his senior political colleagues. Campaigning techniques, such as the use of an instant rebuttal team to counter inaccurate reports and comments, were continued in support of Tony Blair's fear that the party's electoral lead could be lost and that a single term in office would not enable him to push through fis wished-for reforms. A process was set in motion that came to be known as "continuous campaigning".

Prime Minister: a new style of government

The machinery of government

We do not suggest that there is or should be an ideal or unchangeable system of collective Government, still less that procedures are in aggregate any less effective now than in earlier times. However, we are concerned that the informality and circumscribed character of the Government’s procedures which we saw in the context of policy-making towards Iraq risks reducing the scope for informed collective political judgement." Report of the Hutton Inquiry[9] page 146.

In the British constitutional tradition, a government's decisions are the product, first of deliberation by the Cabinet, and then of approval by Parliament. The Prime Minister's traditional Cabinet role has been described as "first among equals" (primus inter pares) - leader but not ruler.

The Civil Service had and has great strengths. It was and is impartial, It is, properly directed, a formidable machine. At times of crisis, superb. Its people are intelligent, hard working and dedicated to the public service. It was simply, like much else, out of date. Faced with big challenges it thought small thoughts. It reckoned in increments when the system required leads and bounds" Tony Blair A Journey page 206.

The conduct of decision-making during Tony Blair's premiership was a major departure from that tradition. Margaret Thatcher - who he admired - was known to have preferred to use the Cabinet only to provide formal assent to decisions that she had taken in consultation with small groups of like-minded ministerial colleagues. Tony Blair went further, seldom consulting the Cabinet about decisions that he had taken in conjunction only with his personal team, or with Gordon Brown. The traditional function of the Cabinet Office was to maintain a record of government decisions, to serve as the Prime Minister's staff and to coordinate the work of the civil service in carrying out the government's instructions. Tony Blair seldom used them for any of those purposes.

Prime Ministers have traditionally played no part in the delivery of policy measures, but Tony Blair wanted access to the information needed to monitor that process. When his staff found it difficult to get access to departmental records or to the records of the Treasury-managed Public Service Agreements system, he set up his own Delivery Unit with direct access to government departments. He also set up a Policy Unit and a Strategy Unit to provide him with independent policy research and development reports.

The Blair/Brown partnership

Ultimately, though the relentless personal pressure from Gordon was wearing, it actually troubled me far less than they (or perhaps he) ever realised. And it was in many ways a far less less toxic and deadly opposition than might have been the case. So was he difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect. Tony Blair A Journey pages 499-500.

Tony Blair's relationship with Gordon Brown had a major influence upon his decision-making. Their partnership as Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer was closer and longer-lasting than any that had gone before. Much of what passed between them is known only to them, but it is clear from such information that is available that their relationship was at times intensely productive, and at times intensely counterproductive. In the opinion of Tony Blair's biographer, Anthony Seldon, its productive aspects were by far the more important although, at the time, the public were made aware only of its negative aspects.

On some issues, each went his own way (the Good Friday agreement, Kosovo and education for Blair; economic growth and welfare for Brown) but both remained committed to the policy framework that they had worked out in opposition, and they always sought and obtained each other's agreement on other issues. Tony Blair's memoirs contain fewer than a dozen references to most of his other ministerial colleagues, but over fifty references to his dealings with Gordon Brown.

Public relations

Labour’s past experience of handling the media, and its belief that government communications staff were not up to the mark, saw a rise in the media handling role of politically appointed, unelected special advisers. Their more aggressive approach and their increased use of selective briefing of media outlets, in which government information was seen to be being used to political advantage, led to a reaction from the media that has produced a far more adversarial relationship with government. Report of the Phillis Review of Government Communications, 2004

A third distinguishing feature of Tony Blair's premiership was its counterproductive attempt to preserve its initial popularity. The independent Phillis review of government communications reported in 2004 that there had been a "three-way breakdown in trust between government and politicians, the media and the general public" that had been attributed by contributors to the communications strategy adopted by the Government in 1997 and the reaction of the media to it.

On taking office in 1997, Tony Blair decided that the staff of the Government Information Service was not up to the task, and he conferred powers upon his press secretary, Alastair Campbell to give them instructions on media management and to recruit political advisers to help them. Under Campbell's leadership they adopted the methods developed by Tony Blair's team that were believed to have contributed to the Labour party's election victory. Campbell is reported to have told them that he wanted them to forecast what would be on the front page of next day's Sun, and help to write it. On his instructions, they took to rewarding favourable reporting with preferential access to information and punishing adverss reporting by witholding access. In his own twice-daily briefings, Campbell himself adopted an agresthsive manner that some journalists resented. An atmosphere of suspicion developed and a tendency developed of referring to government all government statements as "spin" (an ill-defined term that had acquired an implied connotation of misinformation). Tony Blair is reported to have said that he feared that he was "suffering more from spin doctoring than benefitting from it", and by 2001 Roy Jenkins was advocating Campbell's dissmissal but Campbell remained until 2003, and accusations of spin and deception intensified.

Prime Minister: the new policies

"I think most people who have dealt with me think I’m a pretty straight kind of guy, and I am." Tony Blair, November 1997

"Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government and I will lead it as party of government." Tony Blair, on becoming Prime Minister, 1997

Domestic policy

Social Policies

The Blair government pursued a range of socially liberal policies, including the introduction of civil partnerships for gays and lesbians , the end of the ban on gays in Britain's armed forces, and a relaxation of the law on marijuana. However, under the slogan "Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime" the government increased the numbers of police, and introduced a range of new measures that critics say are infringements of civil liberties. The Identity Cards Act 2006 allowed the Government to introduce national identity cards, and authorised the creation of a National Identity Register of UK citizens. Other measures include satellite tracking of prolific offenders, immediate "fixed penalty" fines for a wide range of minor offences, and individual restrictions aimed at limiting antisocial behaviour, especially of youths These changes, in Blair's words, marked the end of the 1960's "liberal consensus" on law and order

Privately, Blair opposed abortion, but he considered that the issue was not one where legislation should be dictated by Christian morality. Despite the Christian beliefs which gave him personal solace and which, it his said, influenced his policies in some areas, in Parliament he never voted with the pro-life lobby and voted 14 times for the pro-choice lobby. In December 2000 he gave his personal backing to regulations allowing stem-cell research on human embryos.

Education and health

"Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education, education." Tony Blair, speech to Labour party conference, October 1996

"Education, education, education" was Tony Blair’s slogan for the 1997 general election, and he consistently increased funding for education above the level of inflation throughout his time in Government – an increase from £29 billion in 1997 to £60 billion in 2007 ; with further rises to £74 billion projected by 2010. Spending per school pupil was £2,500 in 1997, and is projected to be £6,600 in 2010. There has also been a large increase in funding for Universities financing a large increase in access to University education. This too has been controversial, and critics on the left in particular have objected to the introduction for the first time of student fees to pay part of the cost of higher education, while critics on the right believe that the increase in student numbers implies a lowering of educational standards.

On the day before the 1997 general election, Blair told voters that they had "24 hours to save the NHS" (the National Health Service. With tight controls on public spending in his first term, there was llittle scope to increase funding, but the 2001 election victory gave Blair a clear mandate to markedly increase investment in the NHS , paving the way for annual increases worth more than 7% in the health budget sustained for the five years to 2007-08. How that money has been spent is politically controversial , with some believing that much has not been spent efficiently. Others, on the political left, have been unhappy in particular with the involvement of the private sector in the funding of many of the new hospitals – under these arrangements some hospitals were built and are owned and managed (partly) privately while being leased for use by the NHS. However, hospital waiting times have been cut dramatically under Labour; the total waiting list fell by 25% in the six years to 2007 - a reduction of 260,000 people. Between 1996 and 2004, there was a 16% drop in cancer deaths and the Government is on track to meet its 2010 target for heart disease early. Nevertheless, the extensive restructuring changes of the NHS are said to have badly affected staff morale,[10] the NHS is mired in deficits, and patients are protesting about closures of local hospitals. One problem is that much of the money has gone on increased pay for doctors, and when rising drug costs are also taken into account, the 7% budget increases mean only about an extra 2% for services to patients.

One of legacies of Blair’s government is that all political parties have now accepted that most of the British public want a high quality, publicly managed health service with the principle of free universal delivery of health care. This issue, that once appeared to divide the Labour party from the Conservatives, appears to have become a common goal of UK political parties.

Economic policy

"The longest period of economic growth since records began, an economy now bigger than that of Italy and France. The lowest unemployment and highest employment rate of any of our competitors for the first time since the 1950s. Living standards up, for everyone, and for the poorest up most. The biggest reductions in child poverty and biggest increases in investment for decades." Tony Blair's claimed achievements, speech to the Labour Party conference, 2004

Underpinning the Blair government's increase in public spending on education and health without raising the level of income tax was a sustained period of economic growth, sometimes credited to the Chancellor Gordon Brown. A key element of this is believed to be the early decision of the Blair government to devolve the power to set interest rates to an independent body - the Bank of England, subject only to politically determined objectives for the rate of inflation and the overall level of public spending. This decision meant in practice that interest rates could no longer be manipulated by the government in power to produce a 'false' economic boom for mere electoral reasons, and led to a steady low level of inflation, and a steady, stable rate of economic growth.

Between 1997 and 2007, the British economy grew at an annual per capita rate of 2.4%, compared to an average of 2.1% for the previous 50 years. As employment levels rose, overall growth was 2.8% a year, slightly above the average of the developed world, and ahead of the large European nations by an average annual percentage point. The pound strengthened markedly against both the euro and the dollar.

Under Blair and Brown, according to the BBC's economics editor, Britain became the most global of the world's large economies. The government allowed its companies to be bought up by foreigners, its manufacturing to move off-shore, and Britain became a more vociferous champion of free trade than its large trading partners. Above all, Britain allowed foreign labour to migrate there more freely than most of its counterparts

Northern Ireland

"It's not a day for sort of soundbites, really. We can leave those at home. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder." Tony Blair, during talks to secure the 'Good Friday' Belfast Agreement, 7th April 1998 "Don't believe anyone who says the British people don't care about the peace process. People in my country care deeply about it, are willing it to work. And in our two countries, it is not just the politicians who have a role to play. No one should ignore the injustices of the past, or the lessons of history. But too often between us, one person's history has been another person's myth. We need not be prisoners of our history." Tony Blair, speaking to the Irish Parliament, 26th November 1998 This weekend, Tony Blair has pulled off his last great act of seduction. After a decade of whispering sweet-nothings to seductees such as Bill Clinton, George Bush, Paddy Ashdown, Rupert Murdoch and, oh yes, the British electorate, he has sealed his career as a Westminster Cassanova with his most frigid bedding yet: the Reverend Ian Paisley. Johann Hari, writing in The Independent, 26th　March 2007

From the 1970's to 1997, more than 3,000 people were killed in Northern Ireland as a result of conflict between Republican paramilitary groups (mainly the Irish Republican Army - the IRA), Loyalist paramilitary groups (mainly the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force) and the police and security forces of Northern Ireland, and the British troops that were sent to support those forces. The Thatcher Government, and Thatcher's successor John Major, had made serious attempts to reach a political settlement of this conflict but by May 1997, this "Peace process" seemed to have been derailed; talks had broken down, and the IRA had abandoned its cease-fire.

Tony Blair made resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland a priority of his Government and, just two weeks after being elected, he made a high profile visit to Northern Ireland to give the go-ahead for new talks. In July 1997, the IRA resumed its ceasefire to allow representatives of Sinn Fein (the main nationalist political party and the political arm of the IRA) to take part in negotiations with the Ulster Unionist parties, and with the British and Irish governments. These negotiations, with the involvement also of the Irish government and at times facilitated by the involvement of American politicians (and particularly Bill Clinton, with whom Tony Blair maintained a close personal friendship), led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. That agreement called for a power-sharing government of Northern Ireland, conditional on a permanent end to the armed conflict, and disarmament of the paramilitary groups. However, it was opposed on one side by the Democratic Unionist party headed by the Reverend Ian Paisley as a sell-out of the majority Protestant unionist population to the terror tactics of the IRA and, on the other side, led to a breakaway extremist faction of the IRA - the so-called "Real IRA" that briefly resumed terrorist actions and which still poses a terrorist threat.

Thus mutual distrust between the two communities of Northern Ireland was slow to recede; nevertheless, the process led to the historic renunciation of armed conflict by the IRA, and to their disarmament. On May 9th, 2007, Ian Paisley was sworn in as the First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, once a prominent IRA commander, was sworn in as his deputy. At the ceremony, the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern praised Blair as a "true friend of peace and a true friend of Ireland," and for "the true determination that he had, for just sticking with it, for 10 tough years."

On 1st August 2007, the last British troops stationed in Northern Ireland to support the police there were withdrawn. At the height of the Troubles in 1972, 30,000 troops were stationed there, and 763 died there.

Foreign policy

Europe

"I believe in Europe as a political project. I believe in Europe with a strong and caring social dimension. I would never accept a Europe that was simply an economic market. .. Political Europe and economic Europe do not live in separate rooms. " Tony Blair, speech to the EU parliament, 2005 [11] "You have been very rude, and I have never been spoken to like this before." Then French President Jacques Chirac, to Tony Blair, at the EU enlargement summit in Brussels, October 2002 "Africa is worth fighting for. Europe, in its present form, is not." Tony Blair, quoted in the Daily Telegraph, 6th June 2005

Tony Blair was, in his speeches, a passionate pro-European, a strong supporter of the European Union and a supporter of its enlargement to include the newly democratic countries of Eastern Europe. In 1998, he signed Britain's agreement to the European Charter of Fundamental Social Rights , which had been adopted as policy by EU Governments in 1989 but not signed by Britain, as the legislation on worker's rights that it entailed had been opposed by the previous Conservative government. He was also a strong proponent of the euro, favouring Britain joining the new common European currency at the earliest feasible opportunity after a referendum of the British people. However, to realise this intent meant overcoming the increasing skepticism of the British public - a skepticism that increased as the British economy flourished while those of its European neighbours faltered. Crucially, Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Blair's key partner in Government, refused to countenance joining the euro until the economic conditions were "right", setting five conditions that had first to be met . In essence, Brown declared that monetory union would disrupt Britain's economy unless, by then, the economies of Britain and the EU had converged, with similar interest rates and inflation rates. However, as Britain's economy continued to outpace that of the EU, the prospects of Britain joining the euro seem to have receded since 1997. Blair's aquiescience to Gordon Brown in this frustrated some of the most ardent pro-Europeans, particularly those in the Liberal Democrat party[12], who felt that the long-term political (and long-term economic) benefits of greater European Union outweighed any short-term economic consequences; these felt that after 1997 Tony Blair's personal standing was so high that he would have won any referendum despite the hostility of the media and despite the reservations of large parts of the British electorate.

Blair's negotiations with other EU leaders however were marked by frequent disagreements notably about the Common Agricultural Policy, and about the size of Britain's contributions to the EU budget. Blair's relationship with French President Jacques Chirac in particular was notably frosty.

The United States - the special relationship

"And our job, my nation that watched you grow, that you fought alongside and now fights alongside you, that takes enormous pride in our alliance and great affection in our common bond, our job is to be there with you. You are not going to be alone." Tony Blair, speech to the U.S. Congress accepting the Congressional Gold Medal, July 2003[13] "I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle.... He's bigger than that. This is just background noise, a distraction from big things...Somehow our relationship has been seen as Bush saying to Blair 'jump' and Blair saying 'how high?' but that's just not the way it works. It's a relationship where we say were both going to jump together." George W. Bush, interview with the Sun newspaper June 2007 quoted by CBS News [14]

In the wake of World War II, Winston Churchill spoke of fostering a "special relationship" between Britain and the USA, as a bulwark against the threat of communist expansion into an unsettled Europe. For all British Prime Ministers since, maintaining a strong alliance with the USA has seemed to be a major priority of foreign policy, one which has sometimes caused discontent among Britain's European neighbours, who have at times and for various reasons felt threatened by the "Anglo-Saxon" alliance. The obvious political affinities between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair made it natural perhaps that they would become friends as well as political allies.Together, they tried to create a new political centre ground under the banner of the "Third Way". In alliance, they launched the Operation Desert Fox bombing raids in Iraq in 1998, and took NATO to war against Slobodan Milosevic in Kosovo in 1999. When the Monica Lewinsky story broke in the press, Blair stood by Clinton; when asked if this was not “politically risky” he said of Clinton, “I have found him throughout someone I could trust, someone I could rely upon, someone I am proud to call not just a colleague, but a friend … And my belief is that the right thing to say is what you feel.”

Blair with American President George W. Bush, 2005. Blair had good relations with the United States during both the Clinton and Bush administrations.

This closeness to Clinton posed a clear problem when George W. Bush was elected as president of the USA. Whereas the Democrats had forged links with the Labour Party, the Republicans had forged links with the Conservatives, this, and Bush's clear antipathy towards Clinton did not bode well for the special relationship.

However, regardless of any personal friendship for Clinton, Blair rapidly set about forming an equally strong relationship with Bush - and was remarkably successful in doing so. Years later, allegations of undisclosed gift-giving between the two would come to light. After the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, Blair committed Britain to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the USA against terrorism, and backed that up by sending large numbers of British troops to Afghanistan. The next month, in an address to the Labour Party conference, Blair said of the American people: "We were with you at the first. We will stay with you till the last."

In 2003, The U.S. Congress awarded Blair the Congressional Gold medal On July 18 2003 Tony Blair gave his acceptance speech to the joint Houses of Congress, a speech that included the gentle reminder to his audience, "As Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible, but, in fact, it is transient."

Prime minister: the record

First term in office, 1997-2001

Tony Blair’s party won a landslide victory in the 1997 UK general election. Labour won 419 seats, the Conservatives just 165; Labour had a majority of 179 over all other parties. Blair became, at 43, the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. For this first term in Government, Blair had promised that there would be no increase in income tax and no increase in the overall level of public spending. Blair's popularity in the country was very high, and although the commitment not to increase public spending led to frustration amongst those Labour Party supporters who had wanted a rapid increase in investment in health and education, his popularity and that of the Labour Party remained relatively high throughout the first term of government.

Blair's first term mainly addressed issues which required no increase in public spending, such as devolved government in Scotland and Wales (see below), and the Freedom of Information Act. A minimum wagewas introduced for the first time in the UK. The Government also attempted to reform the House of Lords - the second chamber of the UK parliament, which is involved mainly in scrutinising, revising and amending legislation, although it can also initiate legislation. Until 1997, members of the Lords were mainly hereditary 'peers of the realm'. The House of Lords Act of 1998 removed the right of most peers to sit in the House of Lords, although an amendment tabled in the Lords allows 92 hereditary peers to remain pending further reform. This reform did not produce the fully elected chamber that some have sought; the House now mainly comprises members appointed (for life) by Prime Ministers to acknowledge their contribution to public service in many spheres, and they include religious leaders, scientists, and representatives from the Arts and business communities. Whether it is desirable that the second chamber of Parliament should be elected remains controversial in British politics; some feel that its role should be above party politics, and others feel that an elected second chamber would inevitably weaken the authority of the first.

The first term was not without controversy. Six months into his premiership, Labour was hit by sleaze allegations over a party donation of £1 million given by the boss of Formula One motor racing, Bernie Ecclestone. The government was planning to ban tobacco companies from sponsoring sporting events, but exempted Formula One shortly after the money was received. Blair denied any wrongdoing, and Labour promptly returned the money, with the exemption remaining.

Devolution

Politically, one of the legacies of the Blair government has been devolution in Scotland and Wales and the reintroduction of devolution (under forced coalition) to Northern Ireland. One of the first acts of the first Blair Government was to hold referendums about devolution in Scotland and Wales, in November 1997. These showed clear support for devolution in Scotland, and, following this result, the 1998 Scotland Act established a separate parliament for Scotland with devolved responsibilities in most domestic areas ; The first Scottish Parliament was elected in May 1999. The referendum in Wales also supported devolution, but by a narrow majority and with a small electoral turnout; accordingly a Welsh National Assembly was established, but with much more limited responsibilities than the Scottish Parliament.

Second term in office, 2001-2005

Blair called a fresh general election in May 2001, one year earlier than he was required to, and won a second landslide victory, with an overall majority of 168, though with a much reduced electoral turnout.

The Labour Party manifesto for the general election made five key pledges four of which made clear the intent to raise public spending. The pledges were: to keep inflation low; to employ 10,000 more teachers; to employ 20,000 more nurses and 10,000 more doctors; to recruit 6,000 more police; and to raise the minimum wage.

This second successive landslide victory gave Blair overwhelming personal authority not only in Parliament but also within the Labour Party, and he used this authority to press the Party to further embrace free market economic principles

Iraq

"This is not the time to falter. This is the time for this house, not just this government or indeed this prime minister, but for this house to give a lead, to show that we will stand up for what we know to be right, to show that we will confront the tyrannies and dictatorships and terrorists who put our way of life at risk, to show at the moment of decision that we have the courage to do the right thing." Tony Blair, speech to the House of Commons, March 2003, moving the motion to approve military involvement in Iraq "We are supposed to admire the Prime Minister because he is a man without doubts and one shorn of scepticism—two of the greatest qualities that the British people have. He just knows that he is right and is therefore prepared to ignore the advice of virtually all the leaders of the great religions in the world, including the Pope and our own archbishop. I find that approach rather frightening." Brian Sedgemoor, Labour MP, opposing the motion "Tony Blair has made it known, in connection with his part in the Iraqi war, that he is ready to meet his Maker. Whether his Maker is ready to meet Tony Blair is another matter. In God's sandals, I think I should plead a previous engagement." Keith Waterhouse, Daily Mail columnist "I am truly sorry about the dangers that they face today in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that some may think that they face these dangers in vain. I do not, and I never will. I believe that they are fighting for the security of this country and the wider world against people who would destroy our way of life." Tony Blair, at his last appearance in the House of Commons, talking about the dangers facing British forces I would still have thought it right to remove him [Saddam Hussein]"... obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat... This [the notion of him as a threat to the region] was obviously the thing that was uppermost in my mind." Tony Blair interviewed in 2009, stating that he would have authorised British involvement in the invasion of Iraq even if he had accepted the non-existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Tony Blair’s single biggest political problem was his support for military action to displace Saddam Hussein in Iraq. He justified this policy by his repeated declarations that he believed the evidence of British and American intelligence sources that Saddam Hussein possessed and was further accumulating Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that posed a serious and imminent threat to world security. In 2009, two years after leaving office, he stated that Saddam as a "threat to the [Middle Eastern] region" was "uppermost" in his mind, and admitted that he would have authorised British involvement in the invasion even if he had accepted at the time that Iraq had no WMDs. He tried to persuade the United Nations (UN) to act collectively against Saddam Hussain. The UN Security Council had passed UN resolution 1441 which directed Iraq to allow UN weapons inspectors to verify that Iraq had disposed of all its weapons of mass destruction, as it had been required to do by earlier resolutions; Saddam insisted that Iraq had complied fully, but he impeded the work of the weapons inspectors and ultimately expelled them from Iraq. Resolution 1441 states, in part, that the Security Council "has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations." Britain and the USA urged the UN to act against Iraq in accord with this clause, but when the Security Council failed to endorse military intervention, Blair supported the US decision to invade Iraq regardless. He believed that the consequences of a unilateral military action by the USA would be inevitably graver than those of a multilateral action, however limited the involvement of other countries: "I have come to the conclusion after much reluctance that the greater danger to the UN is inaction: that to pass resolution 1441 and then refuse to enforce it would do the most deadly damage to the UN's future strength, confirming it as an instrument of diplomacy but not of action, forcing nations down the very unilateralist path we wish to avoid."

The decision to support Iraq was supported by the opposition Conservative Party and opposed mainly by a minority of rebels within the Labour party. However, the outcome of the invasion of Iraq, and the failure to find Weapons of Mass Destruction, profoundly affected Blair’s credibility and his popularity, as a general perception grew that Blair had misled the UK parliament and public. In September 2004, during the Labour Party annual conference, the London Evening Standard reported details of a leaked Pentagon briefing paper, Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategic Lessons Learned, The document shows that the Pentagon had finalised its Operational Battle Plan for the Iraq war in October 2002, at a time when Blair was declaring that no decisions had been made about whether to go to war.

Third term in office, 2005-2007

Despite widespread vehement criticism of Blair for his policies on Iraq, the opposition parties were unable to exploit this fully, having themselves supported the decision to go to war. In May 2005, Blair won a third general election for Labour, but with a much reduced overall majority of 66 seats. In his own Sedgefield constituency, Blair won with a reduced (but still overwhelming) majority of 18,457 votes; anti-war campaigner Reg Keys polled 10% against him.

Blair had won three general elections against three different Conservative Party leaders (John Major, William Hague and Michael Howard); a fourth (Ian Duncan-Smith) had come and gone without fighting an election. Blair had been criticised from the left for not doing more to redistribute wealth, and from the right for increasing taxes and Government spending; both were neutered by the steady growth in the economy. Blair for long periods seemed to have a sure touch with public opinion, never more so that,in the wake of the death of Princess Diana in 1997, his tribute to her seemed spontaneous and sincere, and in marked contrast with the stilted and formulaic tributes from others. His description of her as "the people's princess" is one that stuck in the public's mind.

One of the final controversies of Blair's tenure came with his intervention to halt a probe by the Serious Fraud Office into allegations of corruption between Saudi Arabian representatives and BAE Systems. Blair argued in the Commons that the investigation would have damaged Britain's relationship with the Saudis, and risked UK security in relation to the Middle East. The SFO had opened its investigation into a 1985 arms deal, worth around £43 billion, at a time when the Blair government was negotiating another key weapons contract with Saudi Arabia; the Middle Eastern state threatened to cease intelligence co-operation if the inquiry proceeded.

Attacks on Blair from the media never seemed to stick, leading him to be called 'Teflon Tony'; the Press gave him the nickname "Bambi", but this and the mocking of his smile seemed to exhaust their satirical powers to diminish him. His policies, whether they reflected his personal convictions or mere political expediency, often seemed populist rather than left-wing or right-wing. For this, he was criticised as lacking conviction; except on Iraq, where he led from personal conviction and was criticised for not listening. Whereas Margaret Thatcher had been a generally unpopular leader granted power through success in the Falklands War, aided by a disorganised and disunited opposition, Blair had been a generally popular leader ultimately denied power by the failures in Iraq, although sustained by a disorganised and disunited opposition. Margaret Thatcher had been forgiven the small dishonourabilities of war (the sinking of the Belgrano); what successes there had been in Iraq (removal of Saddam Hussein, generally regarded as a brutal dictator) were forgotten.

However, Blair had claimed the "middle ground" of British politics for Labour; lately, the Conservative Party under its new leader David Cameron moved left to challenge that hegemony. For the first time since he was elected leader, the Conservatives moved ahead of Labour in the opinion polls, and increasingly, members of The Labour Party began to suggest that it was time for Blair to go.

Resignation and departure as Prime Minister

Resignation announcement

"I was, and remain, as a person and as a prime minister, an optimist. Politics may be the art of the possible; but at least in life, give the impossible a go. Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong, that's your call. But believe one thing, if nothing else. I did what I thought was right for our country." Tony Blair, quoted in The Guardian, 11th May 2007

10th May 2007 marked the official announcement of the end of Blair's premiership, with a departure date set for the following 27th June. In a speech made in his Sedgefield constituency, Blair announced a timetable for leaving office, paving the way for his successor Gordon Brown after over ten years of power. In words that emphasised his domestic record more than his international influence, Blair credited his government with lowering crime, stabilising the economy and improving public services; he also emphasised that it had placed the UK at the forefront of fighting terrorism, tackling climate change and providing aid to troubled regions such as Africa. Often accused of having a fervently religious approach to wider issues, he also remained committed to the view that time would see his decision-making vindicated. An apology for his most-criticised activities was unforthcoming. In concluding, however, Blair admitted that he had made mistakes:

"My apologies to you for the times I've fallen short. But good luck."

Final acts as Prime Minister

Tony Blair's final appearances as an international politician were at the 2007 Group of Eight (G8) summit held between some of the world's most economically powerful states, and a meeting of the European Council of European Union countries. These actions would be expected from a premiership often strongly focused on issues outside the UK's borders, though Blair's intention to bring the country closer to its European partners was not entirely fulfilled. Back in Britain, Blair's final days as Prime Minister saw his name rarely out of the national press: he called the media a "feral beast" while admitting his government's early desire to 'spin' stories may have aggravated this issue; and he strongly criticised the proposed academic boycott on Israeli universities in one of his final performances in the House of Commons (the elected chamber of the UK Parliament). He reaffirmed his view that the House of Lords should remain appointed rather than elected.

"Tony Blair gave a brilliant farewell demonstration of the gifts that have enabled him to dominate politics for such a preposterous length of time. His lethal blend of self-righteousness, good manners and amiability permitted him to control his last appearance as Prime Minister and turn it into a celebration of himself." Andrew Gimson, writing in the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper, about Blair's last appearance for Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. See here for a video of Blair's performance.

Departure

27th June 2007 saw Tony Blair resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Immediately after leaving office, Blair severed his final link with UK domestic politics by stepping down as an MP. His last act in office was to appear for the usual weekly questions to the premier in the House of Commons, where political friends and foes alike paid tribute to some of his record, such as his achievements for long-term peace in Northern Ireland. Blair conceded that he had "never pretended to be a great House of Commons man", perhaps obliquely acknowledging criticism that at times his administration had sidelined Parliament; he also expressed regret about the dangers that British troops faced in Iraq. His words of farewell underlined the finality of the event:

"I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end."

Footnotes

(References, with page numbers, to Tony Blair's memoirs (Tony Blair: A Journey, Hutchinson, 2010) are shown as "Journey (xxx)", and
references to Anthony Seldon's biography (Anthony Seldon: Blair, Free Press, 2004) are shown as "Blair (xxx)".)

Further reading

See the more detailed guide at the Tony Blair/Bibliography subpage.

• Seldon, Anthony (2004). Blair. ISBN 0-7432-3211-9.
• Seldon, Anthony (ed.) (2008). Blair's Britain, 1997–2007. 708pp; 28 long essays by scholars; excerpt and text search.
• Temple, Michael (2006). Blair (British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century). Excerpt online.

See Also

• Gordon Brown
• George W. Bush
• Bill Clinton