Tony Blair

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The Right Hon. Tony Blair

Appointed PM:	May 2, 1997
PM Predecessor:	John Major
Date of Birth:	May 6, 1953
Place of Birth:	Edinburgh, Scotland
Political Party:	Labour

The Rt. Hon. Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born May 6, 1953) became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1997, after 18 consecutive years of Conservative rule.

Blair's stated priorities on coming to office were "education, education, education". In his second term, he extended this list to include other public services notably the National Health Service. However like many Western leaders, since September 11, 2001 his agenda has been dominated by foreign affairs - the "War on Terror" and Britain's involvement in the 2003 Iraq War and its aftermath.

Labour's electoral successes have been attributed to Blair's efforts to move the party toward the centre of British politics, a process which began under the leadership of Neil Kinnock and was continued by Blair's immediate predecessor John Smith. However critics to the left of the Labour Party feel that in the process he compromised its founders' socialist principles and that the government places insufficient emphasis on the redistribution of wealth.

Table of contents

1 Early Life 2 Political career 2.1 In opposition 2.2 1997-2001 2.3 2001-present 3 Private life 4 Quotes 5 Satrical Caricature 6 See also

Early Life

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Mr Blair is the son of a barrister and a lecturer. He spent most of his childhood years in Durham. Blair was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh, known as the "Eton of Scotland", when he met Charlie Falconer who he would later make Lord Chancellor. He read law at St. John's College, Oxford. During his college years he also played guitar and sang for a rock band called Ugly Rumours. He obtained a degree and went on to be a pupil (trainee barrister) in the Chambers of Derry Irvine.

Political career

Shortly after graduation in 1975 he joined the Labour Party, running unsuccessfully for parliament in 1982 in the safe Tory seat of Beaconsfield. During the early 1980s he was involved in the Hackney Labour Party, where he aligned himself with the "soft left" who looked to be taking control of the party.

In opposition

During the 1983 UK general election he was elected as the Member for Sedgefield, a constituency that he has held until the present day. Following two Labour party general election defeats by Margaret Thatcher in 1983 and 1987, Blair aligned himself firmly with the reforming tendencies in the party, headed by leader Neil Kinnock who gave Blair his first Shadow Cabinet post as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy, and worked to produce a more moderate and electable party. When Kinnock resigned after defeat by John Major in the 1992 UK general election, Blair became Shadow Home Secretary under John Smith.

In 1994 Smith died suddenly of a heart attack. Blair and fellow Shadow Cabinet member Gordon Brown allegedly struck a deal at the Granita restaurant in Islington that would see Blair stand for the leadership, with Brown becoming Chancellor in the event of victory.

Elected using the reformed election rules he had helped to bring in, Blair and Brown set about changing the Labour Party, modifying its constitution away from commitments to public ownership, focusing on presenting itself as fiscally competent (after the failures of the Conservative government of that time) and "rebranding" itself as New Labour. Although it attracted much criticism for its alleged superficiality from both political opponents and traditionalists within the party, the transformation was nevertheless successful.

Aided by a Conservative government split over policy toward the European Union and tainted by allegations of corruption, "New Labour" achieved a landslide victory over John Major in the 1997 UK general election.

1997-2001

One of the major innovations of his first term in office was Chancellor Gordon Brown's decision to transfer the power to set interest rates to the Bank of England. The previous tendency of governments to manipulate interest rates around the time of General Elections for political ends had been deleterious to the UK economy and helped reinforce a cyclical pattern of boom and bust. Brown's decision was thus popular with the City. Previous Labour governments left the party with a (possibly underserved) reputation for imprudence after they presided over economic debacles such as the Winter of Discontent. Brown's decision, together with the government's avowed determination to remain within the previous Tory government's projected spending helped to reassure sceptics with long memories of New Labour's new fiscal prudence. It also established Brown as a powerful and independent Chancellor - a double-edged sword for the new Prime Minister.

Another achievement of Blair's first term, was the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement in which the British and Irish Governments and most Northern Irish political parties agreed on an "exclusively peaceful and democratic" framework for power-sharing in Northern Ireland. Negotiations toward the agreement had begun under previous Prime Minister, John Major. The agreement was signed on April 10, 1998, and on November 26, 1998 Blair became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament. Though the agreement has yet to be implemented in full, the ceasefires and political structures it brought into being have increased the chances of a sustained peace.

Blair presided over the British involvement in the Kosovo War.

In the 2001 UK general election, the Labour Party preserved its majority at an unprecedented level, even in the face of a reduced turnout, and Blair became the first Labour Prime Minister to win a full second term. The leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague resigned, becoming the first Conservative Party leader since Austen Chamberlain in the 1920s not to have served as Prime Minister.

2001-present

Following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center, Blair was quick to align the UK with the US, engaging in a round of shuttle diplomacy to help form and maintain the allied coalition prior to their attack on Afghanistan (in which British troops participated). He continues in this role to this day, showing a willingness to visit countries on diplomatic missions that other world leaders might consider too dangerous to visit.

Blair was a strong supporter of US President George W. Bush's controversial plan to invade Iraq and overthrow dictator Saddam Hussein. Blair soon became the face of international support for the war, often clashing with French President Jacques Chirac, who became the face of international opposition. Regarded as somewhat more articulate than Bush, Blair gave many speeches arguing for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in the days leading up to war.

Though the main case against Saddam centered around his alleged possession of illegal weapons of mass destruction, Blair also focused on the Iraqi government's brutal record of human rights abuse as justification for regime change. British troops were deployed in 2003 to assist with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The fact that, since Saddam's overthrow, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, continues to be a source of great domestic controversy for the Prime Minister, especially among members of his own party, many of whom were opposed to the Iraq war. Along with George W. Bush, Tony Blair was nominated in 2004 for the Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian lawmaker Jan Simonsen, although their chances of winning are widely believed to be quite small, given that several groups want to try Blair for war crimes in Iraq at the International Criminal Court (Bush could not be tried because the USA is not a signatory to the treaty) ([1])([2])([3]).

On August 1, 2003 he became the longest sitting Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, surpassing Harold Wilson's 1964 - 1970 term. However, because of the crisis around the death of David Kelly, there was no celebration.

Over January 27 and January 28, 2004 Blair was expected to have to endure "twenty-four hours in hell". He was widely predicted to lose the crucial second reading vote on the Higher Education Bill due to a Labour rebellion - this would have been his first such defeat while in office. The next day the Hutton Inquiry was due to report (the investigation of the Kelly Affair had been widely expected to criticise Blair and his government). In the event, the tuition fees vote was won by a margin of 5. Lord Hutton had taken a rather narrow view of his remit and absolved Blair and his government of deliberately inserting false intelligence into a controversial dossier. Instead he focussed his criticism on the BBC editorial process which had allowed the allegation, which Hutton found to be "unfounded", to be broadcast.

Although vindicated by the Hutton Report, the evidence presented to the Inquiry had shed light on the assessment and use of intelligence in the run up to the war in Iraq. The picture that emerged was not one of unalloyed good practice. Perhaps in part to head off criticism about the narrow scope of Hutton's findings (some called the report a "whitewash"), and almost certainly influenced by a similar decision taken by the US President, Blair decided to initiate another inquiry (the Butler Inquiry) - this time into the assessment and use of intelligence.

Private life

Tony Blair is married to noted barrister Cherie Booth whom he met in 1976 whilst both were pupil barristers in the same Chambers. They have three sons (Euan, Nicky and Leo) and one daughter (Kathryn). His youngest son, Leo, born 20 May 2000, was the first child to be born to a serving Prime Minister since the 19th century. Whilst the Blairs have been keen to shield their children from the media spotlight, this has not always been possible. Leo became a focal point for a debate over the MMR vaccine. Tony Blair refused to confirm whether Leo has received the vaccine. Euan Blair hit the headlines after being found by police 'drunk and incapable' ([4]) in Leicester Square, London whilst out celebrating the end of his GCSE exams in July 2000, just days after his father had proposed on-the-spot fines for drunken and yobbish behaviour. The Blairs have also been criticised for "exploiting" their children in public for photocalls when it suits them, yet bemoaning the media for naturally following this through.

Blair is open about his religious faith; some have suggested he is the most devout Prime Minister since William Gladstone. He is an Anglican, but his wife and children are Roman Catholics, and he has increasingly been seen attending Mass with them.

On October 19, 2003 it became known that Blair received treatment for an irregular heartbeat. He felt ill the previous day and went to hospital where he was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia. He was given a small electric shock to correct the heartbeat and returned home that night. He took October 20 a little slower than usual and returned to a full schedule on October 21. Downing Street aides later suggested that the palpitations had been brought on by Blair drinking lots of strong coffee at an EU summit and then working out vigorously in the gym ([5]). However former Armed Forces minister Lewis Moonie, a doctor, said that the treatment was more serious than Number 10 had admitted. "Anaesthetising somebody and giving their heart electric shocks is not something you just do in the routine run of medical practice," he said. [6]

Quotes

• "But what has come home to me more than anything else is the utter futility of Opposition. I did not join the Labour Party to protest. I joined it as a party of government and I will make sure that it is a party of government."—From Tony Blair's speech to the TUC, September 1995

• "As Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible, but, in fact, it is transient. The question is: What do you leave behind? And what you can bequeath to this anxious world is the light of liberty"—From Tony Blair's speech to the US Congress, July 18, 2003

• "I can only go one way, I've not got a reverse gear."—From Tony Blair's speech to the Labour Party Conference, September 30, 2003.

• "My prediction that he would be a disaster has turned out to be wrong and I think when that happens in politics you should just be open about it..."—On London Mayor Ken Livingstone's readmission to the Labour Party.

• "This isn't a time for soundbites, but I feel that the hand of history is on our shoulder, I really do."—On negotiating the Good Friday Agreement.

Satrical Caricature

As is usually the fate with British Prime Ministers, he has become the central focal point of satire in the magazine Private Eye. A regular feature is the St Albion Parish News (incumbent: Rev. A.R.P. Blair MA (Oxon)), in which recent political events and Blair's penchant for spin and his zealous enthusiasms are relentlessly pilloried.

See also

• UK general election, 2001
• UK general election, 1997
• UK general election, 1992
• UK general election, 1987
• UK general election, 1983

Preceded by: John Major 1990-1997

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1997

Followed by: (still in office)

Preceded by: John Smith 1992-1994

Leader of the British Labour Party since 1994

Followed by: (still in office)