Tony Blair/Catalogs

Persona

(the notes are biographical only in respect of their subjects' associations with Tony Blair)

Ahern, Bertie

Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland 1997-2008

Campbell, Alastair

Journalist and commumications specialist. Political editor Daily Mirror, 1989-93. Spokesman for TB 1994-2003. Author The Blair Years, 2007.

"Campbell's exuberant personality was the most powerful force in Number 10 from 1997 to 2003" .

Cook, Robin

Politician. Foreign Secretary 1971-2001, Leader of the House of Commons 2001-2003. Resigned over Iraq 2003

Falconer, Charles

Barrister. TB's childhood friend and his flatmate. Lord Chancellor 2003-07.

Gould, Phillip

Political adviser to Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair. Used focus groups to provide them with advice about what the public was thinking .

Hunter, Anji

Childhhod friend and Labour party supporter. TB's personal assistant, adviser and office manager 1992-2001. Developed TB's confidence, especially in the period before he became party leader

Irvine, Derry

Lawyer. TB's law tutor. Lord Chancellor 1997-2003. "Derry taught me how to think"

Jenkins, Roy

Former politician. Co-founder of the Social Democratic Party (that was later to merge with the Liberal Party to form the Libeal Democratic Party) who had retired from active politics in 1987. Acted as TB's mentor on economic policy during the period 1995-98.

Kinnock, Neil

Politician. Leader of the Labour Party 1983-92 whose reforms had been "seminal in bringing Labour to power" but who TB considered to be unelectable. Patron to TB during his early parliamentary career .

Major, John

Conservative Member of Parliament. Former Prime Minister (1990- 1997}

Mandelson, Peter

Labour party official. Neil Kinnock's Director of Communications. Originator with TB and Gordon Brown of "New Labour". MP and Cabinet Minister under TB. Author The Third Man.

Milliband, David

Political advisor. TB's Head of Policy 1994-1997. Head of Policy Unit 1997-2001.

Mitchell, George

United States Senator. Northern Ireland negotiator for John Major and Tony Blair.

Morgan, Sally

Political advisor. TB's Political Secretary 1997-2001 and Director of Political and Government Relations, 2001-2005.

Powell, Jonathan

TB's Chief of Staff 1997-2007. The person with whom TB could talk about policy throughout the day.

Prescott, John

Trade union official turned politician. ""Old Labour". Deputy Prime Minister 1997-2007. Kept TB aware of the views of the party and the trade unions.

Thomson, Peter

Australian Anglican priest. Born 1936. "He changed my life ... he was my friend, teacher and mentor ... I never met a greater man than Peter" (Tony Blair) "A mixture of missionary and rock star ... he, more than anyone, explains Blair" (as quoted by Seldon).

The machinery of government

(describes the machinery of government as it was between 1997 and 2007 and does not reflect subsequent changes)

Attorney General

The Government's principal legal advisor.

Cabinet

Assembly of the Secretaries of States (heads) of the major government departments, chaired by the Prime Minister, and formerly (pre 1979) the Government's senior decision-making body. (Seldom used for that purpose under Margaret Thatcher and hardly ever by TB).

Cabinet committees

Specialised sub-committees of the Cabinet.

Cabinet Office

Committee consisting of the Permanent Secrataries (top civil servants) of the major goovernment departments, the function of which is to coordinate the execution of the government's policies[1].

Cabinet Secretary

Head of the civil service and constitutionally the link between the Prime Minister and the civil service machine. (A service that TB seldom used).

Civil Service

Long-term government employees, each of whom is assigned to a government department and is only to the Secretary of State (political head) of that department.

Delivery Unit

A small team up by TB in 2001 and reporting directly to him, which set measurable targets and deadlines for selected issues in health, education, policing, criminal justice, asylum and transport. .

Focus group

Typically, a 2-hour informal discussion among a group of about 20 selected voters. Used to obtain an indication of more considered perceptions than can be obtained from opinion polls.

Government Information Service

Otherwise known as the Central Office of Information[2]. An interdepartmental organistion staffed by civil servants whose function is to provide objective information about all aspects of government.

Joint Intelligence Committee

The Cabinet Office committee that oversees the work of the security services and advises the Government on security matters. Its membership includes the heads of the British intelligence agencies, the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Defence Intelligence Staff, the Chief of the Assessments Staff, representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and may include representatives of the United States security sevices[3].

Leader of the House

The cabinet minister who is responsible for the arrangement of government business in the House of Commons.

Lord Chancellor

Member of the Cabinet. Speaker of the House of Lords. Head of the Judiciary (until 2007)

Performance and Innovation Unit

A unit set up by Tony Blair in July 1998 to "improve the capacity of government to address strategic, cross-cutting issues and promote innovation in the development of policy and in the delivery of the government’s objectives" using mixed teams of civil servants and private sector management experts (the Unit's website was deleted in 2010).

Policy Unit

Combined with the Prime Minister's Private Office and renamed "Policy Directorate" in 2001, it had a staff of 30 civil servants and special advisors, working together on short- and medium-term policy questions.

Public Service Agreements

The Treasury's performance management system for the public services.

Royal Prerogative

Decision-making powers, formally reserved to the Monarch, that are in practice exercised by the Prime Minister without the need for parliamentary assent. The powers include the appointment of Ministers, the calling of elections and the declaration of war.

Special advisers

Political advisers appointed on a temporary basis by the government in power. In 2003, the Government had 74 advisers, of which 37 were in the offices of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

Strategy Unit

A team of about 60 civil servants and outside recruits, set up in 2001, that published a range of analyses of long-term policy issues.

Reports of Inquiries

Butler inquiry

Review of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction that found no evidence of "deliberate distortion or of culpable negligence" (BBC summary )

Inquiry of House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee into the decision to go to war in Iraq

- "We conclude that the February dossier was badly handled and was misrepresented as to its provenance and was thus counter-productive... [but] that Ministers did not mislead Parliament" .

International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty

Concluded that "where a population is is suffering serious harm ... the principle of non intervention gives way to the responsibility to protect".

Gershon inquiry

An independent review of public sector efficiency that recommended efficiency savings of 2.5% a year .

Hutton inquiry

Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr David Kelly (website[4]) - that rejected that the claim that Downing Street "probably knew" the 45-minute claim in its Iraq dossier was wrong.

Iraq Survey Group

Report of a joint US/UK inquiry into Saddam Hussein's weapons policy that concluded that he had destroyed his WMD capacity before the Iraq war and that he intended to resume their development after sanctions had been removed.

Phillis inquiry

An independent review of government communications that sought to rectify what it termed a "three-way breakdown in trust between government and politicians, the media and the general public.

Varney review

An review of ways in which the channels through which services are delivered can be made more responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses.

Wanless review

A review of UK healthcare that concluded that UK must expect to devote a significantly larger share of its national income to health care over the next 20 years to reverse the significant cumulative underinvestment over past decades, to catch up with the standards of care seen in other countries .

References

(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)".)