Tony Blair

The Right Honourable  Tony Blair
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	John Prescott
Preceded by	John Major
Succeeded by	Gordon Brown
Leader of the Opposition
In office 21 July 1994 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Margaret Beckett
Succeeded by	John Major
Member of Parliament for Sedgefield
In office 9 June 1983 – 27 June 2007
Preceded by	New Constituency
Succeeded by	Phil Wilson
Majority	18,449 (44.5%)
Born	6 May 1953 (1953-05-06) (age 56) Edinburgh, Scotland
Birth name	Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Cherie Booth
Relations	William Blair
Children	Euan, Nicholas, Kathryn, Leo
Residence	Connaught Square
Alma mater	St John's College, Oxford
Occupation	Envoy
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic (formerly Anglican)
Signature
Website	Tony Blair Office

Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953) is an English politician, who served as Prime Minister from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 and the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. On the day he stood down as Prime Minister and MP, he was appointed official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East on behalf of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia.

Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the leadership election of July 1994 following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under Blair's leadership the party abandoned many policies it had held for decades. Labour won a landslide victory in the 1997 general election.

He was the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister and the only leader to have taken the party to three consecutive general election victories.

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer during all Blair's ten years in office, succeeded him as party leader on 24 June 2007 and as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007.

Background and family life

Blair was born at the Queen Mary Maternity Home^[1] in Edinburgh, Scotland on 6 May 1953,^[2] the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair (née Corscadden). Leo Blair, the illegitimate^[3] son of two English actors, had been adopted by a Glasgow shipyard worker named James Blair and his wife Mary as a baby. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who had moved to Glasgow in 1916 but returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon in 1923, where his wife Sarah Margaret née Lipsett gave birth to Blair's mother Hazel above her family's grocery shop.^[4][5] The Lipsett family in Donegal supposedly originated with a German Jewish immigrant to Ireland prior to the 18th century.^[6] George Corscadden was from a family of Protestant farmers in County Donegal, Ireland,^[7] who descended from Scottish settlers that took their family name from Garscadden, now part of Glasgow. The Blair family was often taken on holiday to Rossnowlagh, a beach resort near Hazel's hometown of Ballyshannon in south County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Tony Blair has one elder brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court Judge, and a younger sister, Sarah. Blair spent the first 19 months of his life at the family home in Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh. During this period his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh.^[1] His family spent three and a half years in the 1950s living in Adelaide, Australia, where his father was a lecturer in law at the University of Adelaide.^[8] The Blairs lived close to the university, in the suburb of Dulwich.

The family returned to Britain in the late 1950s, living for a time with Hazel Blair's stepfather William McClay and her mother at their home in Stepps, near Glasgow. He spent the remainder of his childhood in Durham, England, his father being by then a lecturer at Durham University. After attending Durham's Chorister School from 1961 to 1966,^[9] Blair boarded at Fettes College, a notable independent school in Edinburgh, where he met Charlie Falconer (a pupil at the rival Edinburgh Academy), whom he later appointed Lord Chancellor. He reportedly modelled himself on Mick Jagger.^[10] His teachers were unimpressed with him: his biographer, John Rentoul reported that, "All the teachers I spoke to when researching the book said he was a complete pain in the backside, and they were very glad to see the back of him".^[11] Blair was arrested at Fettes, having being mistaken for a burglar as he climbed into his dormitory using a ladder, after being out late.^[12]

Tony Blair's wife, Cherie Booth QC

After Fettes, Blair spent a year in London, where he attempted to find fame as a rock music promoter, before going up to the University of Oxford to read jurisprudence at St John's College. As a student, he played guitar and sang for a rock band called Ugly Rumours. During this time, he dated future American Psycho director Mary Harron.^[13] He became influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson, who awakened within Blair a deep concern for religious faith and left wing politics. Whilst he was at Oxford, Blair's mother Hazel died of cancer which was said to have greatly affected him. After graduating from Oxford in 1976 with a Second Class Honours BA in Jurisprudence, Blair became a member of Lincoln's Inn, enrolled as a pupil barrister and met his future wife, Cherie Booth (daughter of the actor Tony Booth) at the Chambers founded by Derry Irvine (who was to be Blair's first Lord Chancellor), 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers. He acted predominantly for employers or wealthier clients, as in Nethermere v. Gardiner where he unsuccessfully defended employers that had refused holiday pay to employees at a trouser factory. Rentoul records that, according to his lawyer friends, Blair was much less concerned about which party he was affiliated with than about his aim of becoming Prime Minister.

Blair married Booth, a practising Roman Catholic and future Queen's Counsel, on 29 March 1980. They have four children: Euan Anthony, Nicholas John, Kathryn Hazel, and Leo George. Leo was the first legitimate child born to a serving Prime Minister in over 150 years, since Francis Russell was born to Lord John Russell on 11 July 1849.

Although the Blairs stated that they had wished to shield their children from the media, their children's education was a cause of political controversy. All three attended the Roman Catholic London Oratory School, criticised by left-wingers for its selection procedures, instead of a poorly performing Roman Catholic school in Labour-controlled Islington, where they then lived, in Richmond Avenue. There was further criticism when it was revealed that Euan received private coaching from staff from Westminster School.

Early political career

Blair joined the Labour Party shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1975. During the early 1980s, he was involved in Labour politics in Hackney South and Shoreditch, where he aligned himself with the "soft left" of the party. He unsuccessfully attempted to secure selection as a candidate for Hackney Borough Council. Through his father-in-law, the actor Tony Booth, he contacted Labour MP Tom Pendry to ask for help in pursuing a Parliamentary career. Pendry gave him a tour of the House of Commons and advised him to stand for selection as a candidate in the forthcoming by-election in the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield, where Pendry knew a senior member of the local party. Blair was chosen as the candidate; at the Beaconsfield by-election he won only 10% of the vote and lost his deposit, but he impressed Labour Party leader Michael Foot and acquired a profile within the party. In contrast to his later centrism, Blair described himself in this period as a Socialist. A letter that he wrote to Foot in July 1982, eventually published in June 2006, gives an indication of his outlook at this time.^[14]

In 1983 Blair found that the newly created constituency of Sedgefield, a notionally safe Labour seat near where he had grown up in Durham, had no Labour candidate. Several sitting MPs displaced by boundary changes were interested in securing selection to fight the seat. He found a branch that had not made a nomination and arranged to visit them. With the crucial support of John Burton, he won their endorsement; at the last minute he was added to the shortlist and won the selection over displaced sitting MP Les Huckfield. Burton later became his agent and one of his most trusted and longest-standing allies.

Blair's election literature in the 1983 UK general election endorsed left-wing policies that the Labour Party advocated in the early 1980s. He called for Britain to leave the EEC, though he had told his selection conference that he personally favoured continuing membership. He also supported unilateral nuclear disarmament as a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Blair was helped on the campaign trail by soap actress Pat Phoenix, his father-in-law's girlfriend. Blair was elected as MP for Sedgefield, despite the party's landslide defeat in the general election.

Blair stated in his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 6 July 1983: "I am a socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for cooperation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality".^[15][16] The Labour Party is declared in its constitution to be a democratic socialist party,^[17] rather than a social democratic party—Blair himself organised this declaration of Labour to be a socialist party when he dealt with the change to the party's Clause IV in their constitution.

In opposition

Once elected, Blair's ascent was rapid and he received his first front bench appointment in 1984 as assistant Treasury spokesman. In May 1985 he appeared on BBC's Question Time arguing that the Conservative Government's Public Order White Paper was a threat to civil liberties.^[18] Blair demanded an inquiry into the Bank of England's decision to rescue the collapsed Johnson Matthey Bank in October 1985, and embarrassed the government by finding a European Economic Community report critical of British economic policy that had been countersigned by a member of the Conservative government. By this time Blair was aligned with the reforming tendencies in the party, headed by leader Neil Kinnock, and was promoted after the 1987 election to the shadow Trade and Industry team as spokesman on the City of London. In 1987, he stood for election to the Shadow Cabinet receiving 77 votes.

After the stock market crash of October 1987, Blair raised his profile further when he castigated City traders as "incompetent" and "morally dubious", and criticised poor service for small investors at the London Stock Exchange. In 1988 Blair entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and the following year he became Shadow Employment Secretary. In this post he realised that the Labour Party's support for the emerging European "Social Charter" policies on employment law meant dropping the party's traditional support for closed shop arrangements, whereby employers required all their employees to be members of a trade union. He announced this change in December 1989, outraging the left wing of the Labour Party. As a young and telegenic Shadow Cabinet member, Blair was given prominence by the party's Director of Communications, Peter Mandelson. He gave his first major platform speech at the 1990 Labour Party conference.

In the run-up to the 1992 general election, Blair worked to modernise Labour's image and was responsible for developing the controversial minimum wage policy.

When Neil Kinnock resigned as party leader after Labour's fourth successive election defeat, Blair became Shadow Home Secretary under John Smith. The Labour Party at this time was widely perceived as weak on crime and Blair worked to change this, accepting that the prison population might have to rise, and bemoaning the loss of a sense of community, which he was prepared to blame (at least partly) on "1960s liberalism". On the other hand, he spoke in support of equalising the age of consent for gay sex at 16, and opposed capital punishment. He defined his policy, in a phrase coined by Gordon Brown, as "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".

In 1993, while still Shadow Home Secretary, Blair attended the annual invitation-only Bilderberg conference.^[19]

John Smith died suddenly in 1994 of a heart attack. Blair beat John Prescott and Margaret Beckett in the subsequent leadership election. After becoming Leader of the Opposition, Blair was, as is customary for the holder of that office, appointed a Privy Councillor, which permitted him to be addressed with the style "The Right Honourable".

Leader of the Labour Party

Blair announced at the end of his speech at the 1994 Labour Party conference that he intended to replace Clause IV of the party's constitution with a new statement of aims and values. This involved the deletion of the party's stated commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production and exchange", which was widely interpreted as referring to wholesale nationalisation. The clause was replaced by a statement that the party is one of democratic socialism. A special conference approved this highly symbolic change in April 1995.

Blair also revised party policy in a manner that enhanced the image of Labour as competent and modern using the term "New Labour" to distinguish the party from its past. Although the transformation aroused much criticism (its alleged superficiality drawing fire both from political opponents and traditionalists within the "rank and file" of his own party), it was nevertheless successful in changing public perception. At the 1996 Labour Party conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education and education". Aided by the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government (itself deeply divided over the European Union), "New Labour" won a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, ending 18 years of Conservative Party government with the heaviest Conservative defeat since 1832.^[20] Blair became the youngest person—at age 43—to attain the office of Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812—at age 42.^[21]

Prime Minister

Main article: Premiership of Tony Blair

Blair became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997, serving concurrently as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Sedgefield in the North East of England and Privy Counsellor. With victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005, Blair was the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister, the only person to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.

Blair addressing a crowd in Armagh in 1998

Blair is both credited with, and criticised for, moving the Labour Party towards the centre of British politics, using the term "New Labour" to distinguish his pro-market policies from the more collectivist policies which the party had espoused in the past.

In domestic government policy, Blair significantly increased public spending on health and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. Blair's tenure also saw the introduction of a National Minimum Wage, tuition fees for higher education, and constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales. The British economy performed well, and Blair kept to Conservative commitments not to increase income tax, although he did introduce a large number of subtle tax increases referred to as stealth taxes by his opponents.

His contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland Peace Process by helping to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement after 30 years of conflict was widely recognised.^[22][23] Following the Omagh Bombing on 15 August 1998 by dissidents opposed to the peace process which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds, Blair visited the County Tyrone town, and met with victims at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.^[24] From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported United States foreign policy, notably by participating in the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. He encountered fierce criticism as a result, over the policy itself and the circumstances in which it was decided upon, especially his claims that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction (which have not been discovered in Iraq). For his unwavering support of the United States government's foreign policy, Mr. Blair was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal on 18 July 2003.

Following pressure from the Labour Party, on 7 September 2006 Blair publicly stated he would step down as party leader by the time of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference which was held from 10 September 2007 – 13 September 2007,^[25] having promised to serve a full term during the previous general election campaign.

Relationship with Parliament

Blair changed Parliamentary procedures significantly. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to replace the then twice-weekly 15 minute sessions of Prime Minister's Questions, held on a Tuesday and Thursday, with a single 30 minute session on a Wednesday. This reform was said to have led to greater efficiency, but critics have noted that it is easier to prepare for one long set of questions than for two shorter sessions. In addition to PMQs, Blair held monthly press conferences, at which he fielded questions from journalists.^[26][27]

Other procedural reforms included changing the official times for Parliamentary sessions in order to have Parliament operate in a more business-like manner.

Resignation

On 10 May 2007, Blair announced during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency his intention to resign as both Labour Party leader and Prime Minister the following June. On 24 June he formally handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Gordon Brown at a special party conference in Manchester.^[28] Blair tendered his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to the Queen on 27 June 2007, his successor Gordon Brown assuming office the same afternoon. He also resigned his seat in the House of Commons in the traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds to which he was appointed by Gordon Brown in one of the latter's last acts as Chancellor of the Exchequer.^[29][30] (It is impossible to resign from the UK Parliament, so this device is used for MPs wishing to step down.)^[31]

The resulting Sedgefield by-election was won by Labour's candidate, Phil Wilson. Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation Honours, making him the first Prime Minister of the modern era not to do so.^[32]

Post-Prime Ministerial career

Middle East envoy

On 27 June 2007, he officially resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after ten years in office, and Blair was officially confirmed as Middle East envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia.^[33] Blair originally indicated that he would retain his parliamentary seat after his resignation as Prime Minister came into effect; however, he resigned from the Commons on being confirmed for the Middle East role, by taking up an office for profit .^[29] President George W. Bush had preliminary talks with Blair to ask him to take up the envoy role. White House sources stated that "both Israel and the Palestinians had signed up to the proposal".^[34][35] In May 2008 Tony Blair announced a new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan. ^[36]

Private sector

In January 2008 it was confirmed that Blair would be joining investment bank JPMorgan "in a senior advisory capacity"^[37] and that he would advise the insurance firm Zurich on climate change. His combined earnings then reached over £7m a year.^[38]

Teaching

Yale University announced on 7 March 2008 that Blair will teach a course on issues of faith and globalization at the Yale Schools of Management and Divinity as a Howland distinguished fellow during the 2008–2009 academic year.^[39]

Potential candidacy for President of Europe

Media has speculated that Blair is planning to become the first President of the European Council (often touted as the "President of the European Union" or the "President of Europe"), a post created in the Treaty of Lisbon that would come into force in 2009, if successfully ratified.

Blair has been the most common name connected with the post. Touted as far back as 2002, rumours re-emerged since his resignation.^[40] In June 2007 French president Nicolas Sarkozy was the first leader to propose that Blair be the first president,^[41] support which was reiterated in October 2007 following an agreement on the Treaty of Lisbon.

Gordon Brown, Blair's successor, added his support but noted it was premature to discuss candidates before the treaty was approved. A spokesman for Tony Blair has not ruled out Blair accepting the post, saying he was concentrating on his current role in the Middle East. Some believe he is unlikely to take the position as it comes with few powers.^[42] Blair was later invited to speak on European issues at a rally of Sarkozy's party, the Union for a Popular Movement, on 12 January 2008. This fueled speculation further.^[43][44]

He is intelligent, he is brave and he is a friend. We need him in Europe. How can we govern a continent of 450 million people if the President changes every six months and has to run his own country at the same time? I want a President chosen from the top — not a compromise candidate — who will serve for two-and-a-half years.

—French President Nicolas Sarkozy, January 2008, ^[45]

The Tony Blair Sports Foundation

On 14 November 2007, Tony Blair launched The Tony Blair Sports Foundation, a charity which aims to increase childhood participation in sports activities, especially in the North East of England, where a larger proportion of children are socially excluded, and to promote overall health and prevent childhood obesity.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation

On 30 May 2008, Tony Blair launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a vehicle for encouraging different faiths to join together in promoting respect and understanding, as well as working to tackle poverty. Reflecting Blair's own faith, but not dedicated to any particular religion, the Foundation aims to "show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world"^[46].

Honours

In May 2007, before his resignation, it was reported^[47] that Blair would be offered a Knighthood in the Order of the Thistle, rather than the Order of the Garter, due to his Scottish connections. No such move has been reported since, and, on St Andrew's Day, the Queen appointed two men to the only openings in the limited Order. On 22 May 2008, Blair received a honorary law doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, alongside former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, for distinction in public service and roles in the Northern Ireland peace process.^[48]

Relationship with media

Rupert Murdoch

Tony Blair's close relationship with Rupert Murdoch, and the reciprocated unprecedented support which he received from Murdoch's globally influential News Corporation media empire, has been the subject of much criticism.^[49][50] In 1995 while leader of the Opposition, Blair disclosed in Commons register of interests that he was a guest of Murdoch when he flew to meet him in Hayman Island.^[51]

Contacts with UK media proprietors

A Cabinet Office freedom of information response, released the day after Blair handed over power to Gordon Brown, documents Blair having various official phone calls and meetings with Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation and Richard Desmond of Northern and Shell Media.^[52]

The response includes contacts "clearly of an official nature" in the specified period, but excludeds contacts "not clearly of an official nature."^[53] No details were given of what subjects discussed. In the period between September 2002 and April 2005, Blair and Murdoch are documented speaking 6 times; three times in the 9 days before the Iraq war, including the eve of the 20 March US and UK invasion, and on 29 January, 25 April and 3 October 2004. Between January 2003 and February 2004, Mr Blair had three meetings with Richard Desmond; on 29 January and 3 September 2003 and 23 February 2004.^[54][55]

The information was disclosed after a three and a half year battle by the Lib Dem Lord Avebury.^[52] Lord Avebury's initial October 2003 information request was dismissed by then leader of the Lords, Baroness Amos.^[52] A following complaint was rejected, with Downing Street claiming the information compromised free and frank discussions, while Cabinet Office claimed releasing the timing of the PM's contacts with individuals is undesirable, as it might lead to the content of the discussions being disclosed.^[52] While awaiting a following appeal from Lord Avebury, the cabinet office announced that it would release the information. Lord Avebury said: "The public can now scrutinise the timing of his (Murdoch's) contacts with the former Prime Minister, to see whether they can be linked to events in the outside world."^[52]

Media portrayal

Tony Blair is acknowledged by most to be a highly skilful media performer who comes over as charismatic, informal and articulate. A few months after becoming Prime Minister he gave a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales on the morning of her death in August 1997, in which he famously described her as "the People's Princess".

After taking office in 1997, Blair gave particular prominence to his press secretary, who became known as the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (the two roles have since been separated). Blair's first PMOS was Alastair Campbell, who served in that role from May 1997 to 8 June 2001, after which he served as the Prime Minister's Director of Communications and Strategy until his resignation on 29 August 2003 in the aftermath of the Hutton Inquiry. Campbell acquired a reputation as a sinister and Machiavellian figure, and both Blair and Campbell have frequently been criticised or satirised for their allegedly excessive use of "spin" and news management techniques (see below under Criticism).

Relationship with Gordon Brown

See also: Blair-Brown deal

After the death of John Smith in 1994, both Blair and Gordon Brown were viewed as possible candidates for the leadership of the Labour Party. They had agreed that they would not stand against each other. Brown had previously been considered to be the more senior of the two and he understood this to mean that Blair would give way to him. It soon became apparent, however, that Blair had greater public support.^[56] This gave rise to the alleged Blair-Brown deal. At certain times, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has reportedly acted as their "marriage guidance counsellor".^[57]

Religious faith

On 22 December 2007, it was disclosed that Blair had converted to the Roman Catholic faith, and that it was "a private matter".^[58][59] He had informed Pope Benedict XVI on 23 June 2007 that he wanted to become Roman Catholic. The Pope and his advisors criticised some of Blair's political actions, but followed up with a reportedly unprecedented red-carpet welcome that included Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, who would be responsible for Blair's Catholic instruction.^{[60][61][62][63][64]}

Blair had previously rarely discussed his religious faith in public, but had often been identified as an Anglo-Catholic—that is, a member of the high church branch of the Church of England, sympathetic to the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. His wife Cherie Booth is a practising Roman Catholic, and Blair had attended Catholic Masses at Westminster Cathedral, with his family at Number 10 Downing Street, and also while on holiday in Italy. During one such visit to that country, on 22 February 2003, when he met with Pope John Paul II, Blair and his wife stayed at the Irish College in Rome^[65]. In 1996, he was reprimanded by Basil Cardinal Hume for receiving Holy Communion at Mass despite not being a Roman Catholic, a contravention of Catholic Canon Law.^[66]

In an interview with Michael Parkinson broadcast on ITV1 on 4 March 2006, Blair referred to the role of his Christian faith in his decision to go to war in Iraq, stating that he had prayed about the issue, and saying that God would judge him for his decision:^[67] "I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people … and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well."

A longer exploration of his faith can be found in an interview with Third Way Magazine. He says there that "I was brought up as [a Christian], but I was not in any real sense a practising one until I went to Oxford. There was an Australian priest at the same college as me who got me interested again. In a sense, it was a rediscovery of religion as something living, that was about the world around me rather than some sort of special one-to-one relationship with a remote Being on high. Suddenly I began to see its social relevance. I began to make sense of the world".^[68] The death of Blair's mother Hazel in 1975 is said to have greatly affected him and prompted his renewed spiritual commitment whilst at Oxford.

These comments prompted a number of questions on Blair's faith. At one point Alastair Campbell, Blair's director of strategy and communications, intervened in an interview, preventing the Prime Minister from answering a question about his Christianity, explaining, "We don't do God".^[69]

Cherie Blair's friend and "spiritual guru" Carole Caplin is credited with introducing her and her husband to various New Age symbols and beliefs, including "magic pendants" known as "BioElectric Shields".^[70] The most controversial of the Blairs' New Age practices occurred when on holiday in Mexico. The couple, wearing only bathing costumes, took part in a rebirthing procedure that involved smearing mud and fruit over each others' bodies while sitting in a steam bath.^[71]

Political overview

The Labour Party is historically a socialist political party. In 2001, Tony Blair said, "We are a left of centre party, pursuing economic prosperity and social justice as partners and not as opposites".^[72] Blair has rarely applied such labels to himself, but he promised before the 1997 election that New Labour would govern "from the radical centre", and according to one lifelong Labour Party member, has always described himself as a social democrat.^[73] However, Labour Party backbenchers and other left wing critics typically place Blair to the right of centre.^[74] A YouGov opinion poll in 2005 also found that a small majority of British voters, including many New Labour supporters, place Blair on the right of the political spectrum.^[75][76] The Financial Times on the other hand has argued that Blair is not conservative, but instead a populist.^[77]

Critics and admirers tend to agree that Blair's electoral success was based on his ability to occupy the centre ground and appeal to voters across the political spectrum, to the extent that he has been fundamentally at odds with traditional Labour Party values.^[78] Some left wing critics have argued that Blair has overseen the final stage of a long term shift of the Labour Party to the right, and that very little now remains of a Labour Left.^[79][80] There is also evidence that Blair's long term dominance of the centre has forced his Conservative opponents to shift a long distance to the left, in order to challenge his hegemony there.^[81][82]

Blair has raised taxes (but did not increase income tax for high-earners), introduced a minimum wage and some new employment rights (while keeping Margaret Thatcher's trade union legislation), introduced significant constitutional reforms (which remain incomplete and controversial), promoted new rights for gay people in the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely with the EU. He introduced substantial market-based reforms in the education and health sectors, introduced student tuition fees (also controversial), sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments, and introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation.^[83]

Environmental record

Tony Blair has criticized other governments for not doing enough to solve global climate change. In 1997 Tony Blair in a visit to the United States made an comment of "great industrialized nations" that fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Again in 2003 Mr. Blair went before the United States Congress and said that climate change "cannot be ignored", insisting "we need to go beyond even Kyoto." ^[84] His record at home tends to say something different. Tony Blair and his party have promised a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide but during his term the emissions rose. The Labour Party also claimed that by 2010 10% of the energy would come from renewable resources but in fact only 3% currently does. ^[85]

In 2000 Mr. Blair "flagged up" 100 million Euros for green policies in an effort to get greens and businesses to work together. ^[86]

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Tony Blair

Tony Blair has been criticised for his alliance with U.S. President George W. Bush and his policies in the Middle East, including the Iraq War, the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.^[87] Blair is also criticised for an alleged tendency to spin important information in a way that can be misleading.^[88] Blair is the first ever Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to have been formally questioned by police officers whilst in office, although he was not under caution when interviewed.^[89]

Critics also regard Tony Blair as having eroded civil liberties and increased social authoritarianism, by increasing police powers, in the form of more arrestable offences, DNA recording, and the issuing of dispersal orders.^[90]

Presidentialism

Blair was sometimes perceived as paying insufficient attention both to the views of his own Cabinet colleagues and to those of the House of Commons.^[91] His style was sometimes criticised as not that of a prime minister and head of government, which he was, but of a president and head of state, which he was not.^[92]

Relationship with the United States

Tony Blair and George W. Bush shake hands after their press conference in the East Room of the White House on 12 November 2004.

Along with enjoying a close relationship with Bill Clinton during the latter's time in office, Blair has formed a strong political alliance with George W. Bush, particularly in the area of foreign policy. At one point, Nelson Mandela described Blair as "the U.S. foreign minister".^[93] Blair has also often openly been referred to as "Bush's poodle".^[94] Kendall Myers, a senior analyst at the State Department, reportedly said that he felt "a little ashamed" of Bush's treatment of the Prime Minister and that his attempts to influence U.S. government policy were typically ignored: "It was a done deal from the beginning, it was a one-sided relationship that was entered into with open eyes... There was nothing, no payback, no sense of reciprocity".^[95]

For his part, Bush has lauded Blair and the UK. In his post-11 September speech, for example, he stated that "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".^[96]

The alliance between Bush and Blair has seriously damaged Blair's standing in the eyes of many UK citizens.^[97] Blair has argued it is in Britain's interest to "protect and strengthen the bond" with the United States regardless of who is in the White House.^[98]

An revealing conversation between Bush and Blair was recorded when they did not know a mike was live at the G8 ^[99]

Middle East policy and links with Israel

One of Blair's first actions in joining the Labour Party was to join Labour Friends of Israel. In 1994, a friend and former colleague of Blair at 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers, Eldred Tabachnik, Q.C. (one time president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews) introduced Blair to Michael Levy, later Lord Levy, a pop music mogul and major fundraiser for Jewish and Israeli causes, at a dinner party hosted by the Israeli diplomat Gideon Meir.^[100] Blair and Levy soon became close friends and tennis partners. Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 General Election and received substantial contributions from such figures as Alex Bernstein and Robert Gavron, both of whom were ennobled by Blair after he came to power. Levy was created a life peer by Blair in 1997, and in 2002, just prior to the Iraq War, Blair appointed Levy as his personal envoy to the Middle East. Levy has praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel"^[101] and has been described himself as "a leading international Zionist".^[102] In 2004, Blair was heavily criticised by 50 former diplomats, including ambassadors to Baghdad and Tel Aviv for his policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq War. They stated they had "watched with deepening concern" at Britain following the U.S. into war in Iraq in 2003 also stating, "We feel the time has come to make our anxieties public, in the hope that they will be addressed in parliament and will lead to a fundamental reassessment," and asked Blair to exert "real influence as a loyal ally". The ambassadors also accused the allies of having "no effective plan" for the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq and the apparent disregard for the lives of Iraqi civilians. The diplomats also criticised Blair for his support for the road map which included the retaining of settlements on the West Bank stating, "Our dismay at this backward step is heightened by the fact that you yourself seem to have endorsed it, abandoning the principles which for nearly four decades have guided international efforts to restore peace in the Holy Land".^[103]

In 2006, Blair was heavily criticised for his failure to call for a ceasefire in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, with members of his cabinet openly criticising Israel. Jack Straw, the Leader of the House of Commons and former Foreign Secretary stated that Israel's actions risked destabilising all of Lebanon. Kim Howells, a minister in the Foreign Office, stated that it was "very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics used by Israel", "These are not surgical strikes but have instead caused death and misery amongst innocent civilians.". The Observer newspaper claimed that at a cabinet meeting before Blair left for a summit with President George Bush on 28 July 2006, a significant number of ministers pressured Blair to publicly criticise Israel over the scale of deaths and destruction in Lebanon.^[104]

On 1 August 2008, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad issued a statement calling Blair a war criminal for his role in initiating the war in Iraq. Mahathir said, "I am disgusted that Tony Blair has been invited to Malaysia. This man, to me, is a war criminal. Through instigating the war in Iraq, he has killed more than (former Bosnian Serb leader) Radovan Karadzic and (former Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein."^[105]

Relationship with Labour Party

Blair's apparent refusal to set a date for his departure was criticised by the British press and Members of Parliament. It has been reported that a number of cabinet ministers believed that Blair's timely departure from office would be required to be able to win a fourth election.^[106] Some ministers viewed Blair's announcement of policy initiatives in September 2006 as an attempt to draw attention away from these issues.^[106] Upon his return from his holiday in the West Indies he announced that all the speculation about his leaving must stop. This stirred not only his traditional critics but also traditional party loyalists.

While the Blair government has introduced social policies supported by the left of the Labour Party, such as the minimum wage and measures to reduce child poverty, Blair is seen on economic and management issues as being to the right of much of the party. A possible comparison may be made with American Democrats such as Joe Lieberman, who have been accused by their party's "base" of adopting their opponents' political stances. Some critics describe Blair as a reconstructed neoconservative or Thatcherite. He is occasionally described as "Son of Thatcher", though Lady Thatcher herself rejected this identification in an interview with ITV1 on the night of the 2005 election, saying that in her opinion the resemblances were superficial. Blair himself has often expressed admiration for Thatcher.^[107]

Blair forged alliances with several conservative European leaders, including Silvio Berlusconi of Italy,^[108] Angela Merkel of Germany^[109] and more recently Nicolas Sarkozy of France.^[110] This earned him criticism from trade union leaders within the Labour Party, most notably over the political alliance with Berlusconi who was engaged in disputes with Italian trade unions.

Approval rating

In May 2006, The Daily Telegraph reported that Blair's personal approval rating had dipped to 26%, lower than Harold Wilson's rating after devaluation of the pound and James Callaghan's during the Winter of Discontent, meaning that Blair had become the most unpopular post-war Labour Prime Minister. Of all post-war British Prime Ministers of both parties, only Margaret Thatcher and John Major have recorded lower approval (the former in the aftermath of the Poll Tax Riots).^[111] Previously Blair had achieved the highest approval ratings of any British Prime Minister or party leader of either party in the months following his election in 1997.^[112] Two months later, in July 2006, Blair's approval rating hit a further low of 23%, the lowest rating he ever received. Blair is not however the most unpopular post-war Labour Party leader, with Michael Foot recording 13% approval in August 1982, although Foot was merely Leader of the Opposition at the time, rather than Prime Minister. No Labour leader other than Foot, whether in office or opposition, has recorded lower approval than Blair. Blair's approval rating during the final month of his premiership was 35%. Hence, he left office having experienced the extremes of being both the most popular and least popular Labour Prime Minister since the Second World War.^[113]

Portrayals and cameo appearances

Appearances

Blair made a 'virtual' cameo appearance as himself in The Simpsons episode, "The Regina Monologues" (2003).^[114] He has also appeared himself at the end of the first episode of The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, a British TV series about an unknown housewife becoming Prime Minister. On 14 March 2007, Blair appeared as a celebrity judge on Masterchef goes Large after contestants had to prepare a three course meal in the Downing Street kitchens for Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern^[115]. On 16 March 2007, in a comedy sketch with Catherine Tate, who appeared in the guise of her character Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day fundraising programme of 2007. During the sketch, Blair used Lauren's most famous catchphrase "Am I bovvered?".^[116]

Portrayals

Michael Sheen has portrayed Blair twice in the films The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006). Blair was portrayed by Robert Lindsay in the TV programme A Very Social Secretary; he reprised the role in The Trial of Tony Blair. He was also portrayed by James Larkin in The Government Inspector (2005), and by Ioan Gruffudd in W. (2008).

Blair in fiction, satire and drama

When In 2007 Blair finally resigned as Prime Minister, Robert Harris, a former Fleet Street political editor, dropped his other work to write The Ghost. The title refers both to a professional ghost-writer, whose lengthy memorandum forms the novel, and to his immediate predecessor who, as the action opens, has just drowned in gruesome and mysterious circumstances.

The dead man has been ghosting the autobiography of a recently unseated British prime minister. The latter is one Adam Lang, a thinly disguised version of Blair. ^[117] The fictional counterpart of Cherie Blair is depicted as a sinister manipulator of her husband. So astonishing are the implied allegations of the roman à clef that, had it concerned a lesser figure and were Harris a less eminent novelist, Britain's libel laws may have rendered publication impossible. Harris told The Guardian before publication: "The day this appears a writ might come through the door. But I would doubt it, knowing him." ^[118] The thriller acquires an added frisson from the fact that Harris was an early and enthusiastic backer of Blair and a donor to New Labour funds. ^[119]

Harris has hinted at a third, less obvious, allusion hidden in the novel's title - and at a possible motive for his having written the book in the first place. Blair, said Harris, had himself been ghostwriter, in effect, to President Bush: when giving public reasons for invading Iraq he had argued the case better than had the President himself. ^[120] The cover of the US edition depicts a ghostly arm looming behind the President.

The New York Observer, headlining its otherwise hostile review The Blair Snitch Project, commented that the book's "shock-horror revelation" was "so shocking it simply can’t be true, though if it were it would certainly explain pretty much everything about the recent history of Great Britain." ^[119] Roman Polanski is set to direct the film version. ^[121]

Blair is also recognisable as the Bible-reading Prime Minister, receiving inspiration directly from God, in A. N. Wilson's satirical novel, My Name is Legion.

During Blair's time as Prime Minister, the St. Albion Parish News was a regular feature in the magazine Private Eye, containing the messages of the incumbent "Rev. A. R. P. Blair MA (Oxon)", and his diatribes against (amongst others) the parish treasurer, Mr. Brown.

Blair's appearance in fiction has been discussed in The Guardian.^[122]

Titles and honours

Styles from birth

• Anthony Charles Lynton Blair Esq (1953–1983)
• Anthony Charles Lynton Blair Esq MP (1983–1994)
• The Rt Hon Anthony Charles Lynton Blair MP (1994–2007)
• The Rt Hon Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (2007–)

Honours

• Privy Councillor (1994)
• Congressional Gold Medal^[123]

Works

• Blair, Tony (2002). The Courage of Our Convictions Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0603-4
• Blair, Tony (2000). Superpower: Not Superstate? (Federal Trust European Essays) Federal Trust for Education & Research, ISBN 1-903403-25-1
• Blair, Tony (1998). The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0588-7
• Blair, Tony (1998). Leading the Way: New Vision for Local Government Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-86030-075-8
• Blair, Tony (1997). New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country Basic Books, ISBN 0-8133-3338-5
• Blair, Tony (1995). Let Us Face the Future Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0571-2
• Blair, Tony (1994). What Price Safe Society? Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0562-3
• Blair, Tony (1994). Socialism Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0565-8

See also

• Tony Blair's Cabinets
• Blairite
• Blair Brown Deal
• 'Cash for Honours' scandal
• Impeach Blair campaign
• Labour Party leadership election, 2007
• Politics of the United Kingdom

Notes

Further reading

• Abse, Leo (2001). Tony Blair: The Man Behind the Smile. Robson Books. ISBN 1-86105-364-9. 
• Beckett, F. & Hencke, D. (2004). The Blairs and Their Court. Aurum Press. ISBN 1-84513-024-3. 
• ——— (2003). Tony Blair: The Man Who Lost His Smile. Robson Books. ISBN 1-86105-698-2. 
• Blair, Tony (1998). (ed.) Iain Dale. ed.. The Blair Necessities: Tony Blair Book of Quotations. Robson Books. ISBN 1-86105-139-5. 
• ——— (2004). (ed.) Paul Richards. ed.. Tony Blair: In His Own Words. Politico's Publishing. ISBN 1-84275-089-5. 
• Gould, Philip (1999). The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party. Abacus. ISBN 0-349-11177-4. 
• Naughtie, James (2001). The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1-84115-473-3. 
• ——— (2004). The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency. Macmillan. ISBN 1-4050-5001-2. 
• Rawnsley, Andrew (2000). Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-14029-3. 
• ——— (2001). Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour (2nd edition ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-027850-8. 
• Rentoul, John (2001). Tony Blair: Prime Minister. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-85496-4. 
• Riddell, Peter (2004). The Unfulfilled Prime Minister: Tony Blair and the End of Optimism. Politico's Publishing. ISBN 1-84275-113-1. 
• Seldon, Anthony (2004). Blair. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-3211-9. 
• Short, Clare (2004). An Honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-6392-8. 
• Stephens, Philip (2004). Tony Blair: The Making of a World Leader. Viking Books. ISBN 0-670-03300-6. 

Miscellany

• Blair, T. (2004). "Blair, The Right Hon. A. C. L." from Who's Who, 156th ed., London: A & C Black.
• Halsbury's Laws of England (2004), reference to impeachment in volume on Constitutional Law and Human Rights, paragraph 416
• The Queen (2006 film)

External links

• Tony Blair's post-Downing Street official website
• Video of Tony Blair Celebrating 100 years of Scouting
• A Day in the Life an on-line documentary by Tony Blair on life as Prime Minister
• Tony Blair’s Resignation Speech Audio and Transcript of Tony Blair's Resignation Speech at Trimdon Labour Club on 10 May 2007
• Tony Blair A Decade in Power Photo Gallery from Time.com
• Tony Blair at the Internet Movie Database
• pm.gov.uk "Tony Blair - Biography" at the Internet Archive
• The Blair Years—Timeline
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Tony Blair MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com—Tony Blair MP
• The Public Whip—Tony Blair MP voting record
• BBC News: Special Report - The Blair years 1997-2007
• Triple A Accessible version of Tony Blair's resignation speech
• Tony Blair Online A website providing news, info, pictures etc on Tony Blair.
• Tony Blair's keynote speech at Policy Network conference 'Britain and Europe in the Global Age', 2007
• Blair reinvented the Middle Ages and called it liberal intervention, Simon Jenkins in The Sunday Times on Blair's legacy
• Hansard - Prime Ministers Question Time, 27 June 2007 – Official transcript of Tony Blair's final appearance in the Commons containing a mix of day to day business, tributes, quips and light hearted put downs.
• "Tony Blair's UN Role May Conflict with New Job with JP Morgan Chase" by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press, 10 January 2008

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