Tony Blair#Marriage and children
{{short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007}}
{{redirect|Anthony Blair||Anthony Blair (disambiguation)|and|Tony Blair (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use British English|date=August 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = Sir Tony Blair
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KG}}
| image = Tony Blair (2010) (3x4 cropped).jpg
| caption = Official portrait, 2010
| office1 = Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
| monarch1 = Elizabeth II
| deputy1 = John Prescott
| term_start1 = 2 May 1997
| term_end1 = 27 June 2007
| predecessor1 = John Major
| successor1 = Gordon Brown
| office2 = Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East
| term_start2 = 27 June 2007
| term_end2 = 27 May 2015
| predecessor2 = James Wolfensohn
| successor2 = Kito de Boer
| office3 = Leader of the Opposition
| monarch3 = Elizabeth II
| primeminister3 = John Major
| deputy3 = John Prescott
| term_start3 = 21 July 1994
| term_end3 = 2 May 1997
| predecessor3 = Margaret Beckett
| successor3 = John Major
| office4 = Leader of the Labour Party
| deputy4 = John Prescott
| term_start4 = 21 July 1994
| term_end4 = 24 June 2007
| predecessor4 = John Smith
| successor4 = Gordon Brown
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |cont = yes |Shadow portfolios {{nobold|1987{{nbnd}}1994}}
| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
| embed = yes
| title1 = Shadow Secretary of State
| subterm1 = 1988–1989
| suboffice1 = Energy
| subterm2 = 1989–1992
| suboffice2 = Employment
| subterm3 = 1992–1994
| suboffice3 = Home Department
| title4 = Shadow Minister
| subterm4 = 1987–1988
| suboffice4 = Trade
{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }}
| parliament5 = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP5 = Sedgefield
| term_start5 = 9 June 1983
| term_end5 = 27 June 2007
| predecessor5 = {{italics correction|Constituency established}}{{efn|Electorate abolished in February 1974; reconstituted in 1983.}}
| successor5 = Phil Wilson
| birth_name = Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|5|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
| party = Labour
| spouse = {{marriage|Cherie Booth|29 March 1980}}
| children = 4, including Euan and Nicky
| father = Leo Blair
| relatives = William Blair (brother)
| education = {{plainlist|
}}
| alma_mater = St John's College, Oxford (BA)
| signature = Tony Blair autograph.svg
| website = {{official website|institute.global|name=Institute for Global Change}}
| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Tony Blair on digital communications.ogg|title=Tony Blair's voice|type=speech|description=Blair on the 10 Downing Street YouTube channel and how web communications can improve political engagement
Recorded 21 June 2007}}
}}
{{Tony Blair sidebar}}
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
Blair attended the independent school Fettes College, studied law at St John's College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister. He became involved in the Labour Party and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham. As a backbencher, Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabinet in 1988 and was appointed shadow home secretary by John Smith in 1992. Following Smith's death in 1994, Blair won a leadership election to succeed him. As leader, Blair began a historic rebranding of the party, which became known as "New Labour".
Blair became the youngest prime minister of the 20th century after his party won a landslide victory of 418 seats (the largest in its history) in the 1997 general election, bringing an end to 18 years in the opposition. It was the first victory for the Labour Party in nearly 23 years, the last one being in October 1974.
During his first term, Blair enacted constitutional reforms and significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. In addition, Blair saw the introduction of a minimum wage, tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales, an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights in the UK, and significant progress in the Northern Ireland peace process with the passing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement. On foreign policy, Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo in 1999 and Sierra Leone in 2000, which were generally perceived to be successful.
Blair won a second term after Labour won a second landslide victory in the 2001 general election. Three months into his second term, Blair's premiership was shaped by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, resulting in the start of the war on terror. Blair supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration by ensuring that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. Blair supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and had the British Armed Forces participate in the Iraq War, on the false beliefs that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and developed ties with al-Qaeda. The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As a result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. The Iraq Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped dramatically.
Blair won a third term after Labour won a third election victory in 2005, in part thanks to the UK's strong economic performance, but with a substantially reduced majority, due to the UK's involvement in the Iraq War. During his third term, Blair pushed for more systemic public sector reform and brokered a settlement to restore powersharing to Northern Ireland. He had a surge in popularity at the time of terrorist bombings of London of July 2005, but by the Spring of 2006 faced significant difficulties, most notably with scandals over failures by the Home Office to deport illegal immigrants. Amid the Cash-for-Honours scandal, Blair was interviewed three times as prime minister, though only as a witness and not under caution. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and in 2006, Blair announced he would resign within a year. He resigned the party leadership on 24 June 2007 and as prime minister on 27 June, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown, his chancellor.
After leaving office, Blair gave up his seat and was appointed special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016 and has made occasional political interventions, and has been a key influence on Keir Starmer. In 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. He was made a Knight Companion of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. At various points in his premiership, Blair was among both the most popular and most unpopular politicians in British history. As prime minister, he achieved the highest recorded approval ratings during his first few years in office but also one of the lowest ratings during and after the Iraq War.{{Cite news |last=Seldon |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Seldon |date=10 August 2015 |title=Why is Tony Blair so unpopular? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-33849764 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515100036/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-33849764 |archive-date=15 May 2023 |access-date=15 May 2023 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=7 January 2022 |title=Tony Blair: a controversial knight |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/politics/955320/tony-blair-controversial-knight |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515100035/https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/politics/955320/tony-blair-controversial-knight |archive-date=15 May 2023 |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=The Week}}{{Cite news |last=Wintour |first=Patrick |date=20 March 2023 |title=How Iraq war destroyed UK's trust in politicians and left Labour in turmoil |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/20/iraq-war-destroyed-uk-trust-politicians-labour-turmoil-tony-blair |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515100034/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/20/iraq-war-destroyed-uk-trust-politicians-labour-turmoil-tony-blair |archive-date=15 May 2023 |access-date=15 May 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |last=Farand |first=Chloe |date=1 August 2017 |title=A huge number of Britons want to see Tony Blair tried for Iraq war crimes |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tony-blair-war-criminal-iraq-trial-convicted-yougov-british-people-uk-prme-minister-wmds-dossier-george-w-bush-a7870341.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515102736/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tony-blair-war-criminal-iraq-trial-convicted-yougov-british-people-uk-prme-minister-wmds-dossier-george-w-bush-a7870341.html |archive-date=15 May 2023 |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=The Independent}} Blair is usually rated as above average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.
Early years
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born on 6 May 1953 at Queen Mary Maternity Home in Edinburgh, Scotland.{{Cite news |date=9 August 2006 |title=Blair's birthplace is bulldozed in Edinburgh |url=http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1156262006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013202856/http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1156262006 |archive-date=13 October 2007 |access-date=18 November 2006 |work=Edinburgh Evening News |publisher=Johnston Press}}{{Who's Who|title=BLAIR, Rt Hon. Anthony Charles Lynton, (Tony)|id=U7759|volume=2015|edition=online Oxford University Press}}{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Tony Blair profile |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Tony-Blair |access-date=18 September 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905184304/http://www.britannica.com/biography/Tony-Blair |archive-date=5 September 2015}}{{Cite web |date=9 August 2006 |title=Blair's birthplace is bulldozed in Edinburgh |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/blairs-birthplace-is-bulldozed-in-edinburgh-2510712 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509012456/https://www.scotsman.com/news/blairs-birthplace-is-bulldozed-in-edinburgh-2510712 |archive-date=9 May 2023 |access-date=12 January 2024 |website=The Scotsman}} He was the second son of Leo and Hazel ({{nee|Corscadden}}) Blair.{{Cite news |date=18 November 2012 |title=Leo Blair |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9686127/Leo-Blair.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514004608/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9686127/Leo-Blair.html |archive-date=14 May 2019 |access-date=14 May 2019 |work=The Telegraph}} Leo Blair was the illegitimate son of two entertainers and was adopted as a baby by the Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife, Mary.{{Cite web |date=21 December 2000 |title=Blair: 'Why adoption is close to my heart' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/dec/21/adoptionandfostering.localgovernment1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330085547/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/dec/21/adoptionandfostering.localgovernment1 |archive-date=30 March 2017 |website=The Guardian}} Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who moved to Glasgow in 1916. In 1923, he returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon, County Donegal, in Ireland. In Ballyshannon, Corscadden's wife, Sarah Margaret (née Lipsett), gave birth above the family's grocery shop to Blair's mother, Hazel.{{Cite news |title=Local Map |url=http://www.ballyshannon.ie/Article_Listings.aspx?tscategory_id=276&category_name=Local+Map |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121094345/http://www.ballyshannon.ie/Article_Listings.aspx?tscategory_id=276&category_name=Local+Map |archive-date=21 November 2009 |access-date=22 November 2007 |publisher=Ballyshannon Town Council |quote=Lipsett's Grocery Shop: This is the birthplace of Hazel (Corscadden) Blair, mother of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Her mother's maiden name was Lipsett and Hazel was born over the shop.}}{{Cite news |last1=Watt |first1=Nicholas |last2=Bowcott |first2=Owen |date=14 March 2007 |title=We had no file on him but it was clear he was up for the business |url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2033286,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308180919/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/mar/14/uk.northernireland1 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |access-date=22 November 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London |quote=In the second part of our series on the peace process, Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness recalls his first encounter with the PM and explains how he saved the Good Friday deal}}
Blair has an elder brother, William, and a younger sister, Sarah. Blair's first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh. During this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh.
Blair's first relocation was when he was nineteen months old. At the end of 1954, Blair's parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia.{{Cite news |last=Langdon |first=Julia |date=17 November 2012 |title=Leo Blair obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/17/leo-blair |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325203758/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/17/leo-blair |archive-date=25 March 2017 |access-date=8 June 2018 |work=The Guardian}} His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide.{{Cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Kamal |author-link=Kamal Ahmed (journalist) |date=27 April 2003 |title=Tony's big adventure |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/apr/27/tonyblair.labour2001to2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034137/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/apr/27/tonyblair.labour2001to2005 |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=18 November 2006 |work=The Observer |location=London}} In Australia, Blair's sister, Sarah, was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university. The family returned to the United Kingdom in mid-1958. They lived for a time with Hazel's mother and stepfather (William McClay) at their home in Stepps on the outskirts of north-east Glasgow. Blair's father accepted a job as a lecturer at Durham University, and moved the family to Durham when Blair was five. It was the beginning of a long association Blair was to have with Durham.
Since childhood, Blair has been a fan of Newcastle United Football Club.{{Cite web |last=Waugh |first=Chris |date=20 September 2018 |title=Newcastle fan Tony Blair shock candidate for key Premier League role |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-fan-tony-blair-15176713 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906131805/https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-fan-tony-blair-15176713 |archive-date=6 September 2019 |access-date=6 September 2019 |website=Chronicle Live}}{{Cite news |last=Marriage |first=Madison |date=29 June 2010 |title=British Prime Ministers and their passion for football |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/7861850/British-Prime-Ministers-and-their-passion-for-football.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906131758/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/7861850/British-Prime-Ministers-and-their-passion-for-football.html |archive-date=6 September 2019 |access-date=6 September 2019 |work=The Telegraph}}{{Cite news |date=26 November 2008 |title=Blair football 'myth' cleared up |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_politics/7749778.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906131757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_politics/7749778.stm |archive-date=6 September 2019 |access-date=6 September 2019 |work=BBC}}
Education and legal career
With his parents basing their family in Durham, Blair attended the Chorister School from 1961 to 1966.{{Cite web |title=Alumni Roll Call |url=http://www.thechoristerschool.com/alumni/rollcall.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021173809/http://www.thechoristerschool.com/alumni/rollcall.php |archive-date=21 October 2007 |access-date=22 November 2007 |website=Durham Chorister School website}} Aged 13, he was sent to spend his school term-time boarding at Fettes College in Edinburgh from 1966 to 1971.{{Cite news |last=Ed Black's diary |date=23 July 2004 |title=Tony Blair's revolting schooldays |url=http://news.scotsman.com/edwardblack/Tony-Blairs-revolting-schooldays.2548089.jp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327094722/http://news.scotsman.com/edwardblack/Tony-Blairs-revolting-schooldays.2548089.jp |archive-date=27 March 2008 |access-date=22 November 2007 |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh}} According to Blair, he hated his time at Fettes.Rentoul 2001, pp. 15–17 His teachers were unimpressed with him; his biographer, John Rentoul, reported that "[a]ll 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." Blair reportedly modelled himself on Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones.Rentoul 2001, p. 21 Leaving Fettes College at the age of 18, Blair next spent a gap year in London working as a rock music promoter.Rentoul 2001, pp. 28–31
In 1972, at the age of 19, Blair matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, reading jurisprudence for three years.{{Cite book |title=Michaelmas Term 1974 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1974 |series=Complete Alphabetical List of the Resident Members of the University of Oxford |page=10}} As a student, he played guitar and sang in a rock band called Ugly Rumours,Rentoul 2001, pp. 37–38{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7eS2xNnDYQ |title=Mark Ellen talks about Tony Blair in Ugly Rumours. Film 90788 |last=Huntley |first=John |author-link=John Huntley (film historian) |publisher=HuntleyFilmArchives |year=1990 |access-date=24 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214233554/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7eS2xNnDYQ |archive-date=14 February 2016 |url-status=live |format=YouTube video}} and performed stand-up comedy.{{Cite news |last=Wiegand |first=Chris |date=27 November 2015 |title=Tony Blair recalls 'dire' standup attempts and his role as 'Captain Kink' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/nov/27/tony-blair-matt-forde-interview-standup-comedy-oxford-university |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928022628/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/nov/27/tony-blair-matt-forde-interview-standup-comedy-oxford-university |archive-date=28 September 2016 |access-date=25 September 2016 |work=The Guardian}} He was influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson, who awakened his religious faith and left-wing politics. While at Oxford, Blair has stated that he was briefly a Trotskyist, after reading the first volume of Isaac Deutscher's biography of Leon Trotsky, which was "like a light going on".{{Cite news |last=Merrick |first=Rob |date=10 August 2017 |title=Tony Blair reveals he was a student 'Trot' inspired to enter politics by the life of Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-leon-trotsky-student-politics-hero-oxford-university-new-labour-leader-prime-minister-a7885446.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813104825/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-leon-trotsky-student-politics-hero-oxford-university-new-labour-leader-prime-minister-a7885446.html |archive-date=13 August 2017 |access-date=13 August 2017 |work=The Independent |location=UK |quote="I suddenly thought the world's full of these extraordinary causes and injustices and here's this this guy Trotsky who was so inspired by all of this that he went out to create a Russian revolution and change the world. It was like a light going on."}}{{Cite news |last=Asthana |first=Anushka |date=10 August 2017 |title=Blair reveals he 'toyed with Marxism' after reading book on Trotsky |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/10/blair-reveals-he-toyed-with-marxism-after-reading-book-on-trotsky |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812231050/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/10/blair-reveals-he-toyed-with-marxism-after-reading-book-on-trotsky |archive-date=12 August 2017 |access-date=13 August 2017 |work=The Guardian |location=UK}} He graduated from Oxford at the age of 22 in 1975 with a second-class Honours B.A. in jurisprudence.{{Cite news |last=Nimmo |first=Joe |date=5 October 2016 |title=Why have so many PMs gone to Oxford? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37500542 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221015605/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37500542 |archive-date=21 December 2017 |access-date=14 December 2017 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite web |title=British Prime Ministers |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/british-prime-ministers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119133631/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/british-prime-ministers |archive-date=19 November 2017 |access-date=14 December 2017 |publisher=University of Oxford}}
In 1975, while Blair was at Oxford, his mother Hazel died aged 52 of thyroid cancer, which greatly affected him.{{Cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Kamal |author-link=Kamal Ahmed (journalist) |date=27 April 2003 |title=Family tragedy at the heart of Blair's ambition |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/apr/27/tonyblair.labour |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308141446/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/apr/27/tonyblair.labour |archive-date=8 March 2021 |access-date=10 May 2020 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite web |last=McGreevy |first=Ronan |date=2 September 2010 |title=Mother described as an 'almost saintly woman' |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mother-described-as-an-almost-saintly-woman-1.645587 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504221305/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mother-described-as-an-almost-saintly-woman-1.645587 |archive-date=4 May 2023 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=Irish Times}} After Oxford, Blair trained at the Inns of Court School of Law (now part of The City Law School){{cite web |title=Law school to merge with City |date=24 August 2001 |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/law-school-to-merge-with-city/164514.article |publisher=Times Higher Education |access-date=17 February 2025}} and served his barrister pupillage at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the Bar. He met his future wife, Cherie Booth, at the chambers founded by Derry Irvine (who was to be Blair's first lord chancellor), 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers.{{Cite book |last=Segell |first=Glen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lIh0MOwG0wC&q=tony+blair+a+member+of+Lincoln's+Inn+and+meeting+cherie+booth&pg=PA121 |title=Electronic Democracy and the UK 2001 Elections |date=2001 |publisher=Glen Segell Publishers |isbn=978-1-901414-23-3 |access-date=4 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034137/https://books.google.com/books?id=5lIh0MOwG0wC&q=tony+blair+a+member+of+Lincoln%27s+Inn+and+meeting+cherie+booth&pg=PA121 |archive-date=4 December 2021 |url-status=live}}
Early political career
Blair joined the Labour Party shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1975. In 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 stood as a candidate for the Hackney council elections of 1982 in Queensbridge ward, a safe Labour area, but was not selected.{{Harv|Rentoul|1996|p=101}}
In 1982, Blair was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield, where there was a forthcoming by-election.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQDPXqf-80 "Labour's Old Romantic: A Film Portrait of Michael Foot"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217162458/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQDPXqf-80|date=17 February 2016}}, BBC Two, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rm0cc Friday 5 March 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220005308/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rm0cc|date=20 December 2014}}. Portion available here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJoyxqpavQA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034244/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJoyxqpavQA|date=4 December 2021}} Although Blair lost the Beaconsfield by-election and Labour's share of the vote fell by ten percentage points, he acquired a profile within the party.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} Despite his defeat, William Russell, political correspondent for The Glasgow Herald, described Blair as "a very good candidate", while acknowledging that the result was "a disaster" for the Labour Party.{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=William |date=28 May 1982 |title=By-election boost for Thatcher's stance |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19820528&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034137/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19820528&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=27 August 2019 |work=The Glasgow Herald |page=1}} In contrast to his later centrism, Blair made it clear in a letter he wrote to Labour leader Michael Foot in July 1982 (published in 2006) that he had "come to Socialism through Marxism" and considered himself on the left.{{Cite news |last=Blair |first=Tony |date=July 1982 |title=The full text of Tony Blair's letter to Michael Foot written in July 1982 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1521418/The-full-text-of-Tony-Blairs-letter-to-Michael-Foot-written-in-July-1982.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327113719/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1521418/The-full-text-of-Tony-Blairs-letter-to-Michael-Foot-written-in-July-1982.html |archive-date=27 March 2009 |access-date=18 November 2006 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London}} Like Tony Benn, Blair believed that the "Labour right" was bankrupt,{{Harv|Marquand|2010|p=197}} saying "[s]ocialism ultimately must appeal to the better minds of the people. You cannot do that if you are tainted overmuch with a pragmatic period in power." Yet, he saw the hard left as no better, saying:
{{blockquote|There is an arrogance and self-righteousness about many of the groups on the far left which is deeply unattractive to the ordinary would-be member ... There's too much mixing only with people [with] whom they agree.}}
With a general election due, Blair had not been selected as a candidate anywhere. He was invited to stand again in Beaconsfield, and was initially inclined to agree but was advised by his head of chambers Derry Irvine to find somewhere else which might be winnable.{{Harv|Rentoul|1996|p=109}} The situation was complicated by the fact that Labour was fighting a legal action against planned boundary changes, and had selected candidates on the basis of previous boundaries. When the legal challenge failed, the party had to rerun all selections on the new boundaries; most were based on existing seats, but unusually in County Durham a new Sedgefield constituency had been created out of Labour-voting areas which had no obvious predecessor seat.{{Harv|Rentoul|1996|p=115}}
The selection for Sedgefield did not begin until after the 1983 general election was called. Blair's initial inquiries discovered that the left was trying to arrange the selection for Les Huckfield, sitting MP for Nuneaton, who was trying elsewhere; several sitting MPs displaced by boundary changes were also interested in it. When he discovered the Trimdon branch had not yet made a nomination, Blair visited them and won the support of the branch secretary John Burton, and with Burton's help was nominated by the branch. At the last minute, he was added to the shortlist and won the selection over Huckfield. It was the last candidate selection made by Labour before the election, and was made after the Labour Party had issued biographies of all its candidates ("Labour's Election Who's Who")."Labour's Election Who's Who", Labour Party, 1983, Appendix p. 2.
John Burton became Blair's election agent and one of his most trusted and longest-standing allies.{{Cite news |date=10 October 2007 |title=Blair's agent suspended over foul-mouthed threat |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/oct/10/localgovernment.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220143050/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/oct/10/localgovernment.uk |archive-date=20 December 2016 |access-date=4 February 2016 |work=The Guardian |agency=Press Association}} Blair's election literature in the 1983 general election endorsed left-wing policies that Labour advocated in the early 1980s.{{Cite web |date=9 June 1983 |title=1983 Election Leaflet for Tony Blair |url=https://irishelectionliterature.com/2011/08/29/1983-election-leaflet-for-tony-blair/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805075843/https://irishelectionliterature.com/2011/08/29/1983-election-leaflet-for-tony-blair/ |archive-date=5 August 2021 |access-date=15 August 2022 |publisher=George Ferguson}} He called for Britain to leave the EEC{{Cite book |last=Coleman |first=Vernon |url=http://www.vernoncoleman.com/herearetheviews.htm |title=The Truth They Won't Tell You (And Don't Want You To Know) About The EU |year=2006 |access-date=4 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511033618/http://www.vernoncoleman.com/herearetheviews.htm |archive-date=11 May 2015 |url-status=live}} as early as the 1970s,{{Cite news |title=1975: Labour votes to leave the EEC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/26/newsid_2503000/2503155.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212151032/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/26/newsid_2503000/2503155.stm |archive-date=12 December 2018 |access-date=4 February 2016 |work=BBC News}} though he had told his selection conference that he personally favoured continuing membership{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} and voted "Yes" in the 1975 referendum on the subject. He opposed the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1986 but supported the ERM by 1989.{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Philip |date=26 April 2004 |title=Home front |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3605290/Home-front.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214233554/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3605290/Home-front.html |archive-date=14 February 2016 |access-date=4 February 2016 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} He was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, despite never strongly being in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament.{{Cite book |last=Seldon |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Seldon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKDJmta97ZgC&pg=PT454 |title=Blair Unbound |date=4 September 2008 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-84739-499-6 |page=454 |access-date=4 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214233554/https://books.google.com/books?id=UKDJmta97ZgC&pg=PT454 |archive-date=14 February 2016 |url-status=live}} Blair was helped on the campaign trail by soap opera actress Pat Phoenix, his father-in-law's girlfriend. At the age of thirty, he was elected as MP for Sedgefield in 1983; despite the party's landslide defeat at the general election.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
In his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 6 July 1983, Blair stated, "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."{{Cite web |last=Seddon |first=Mark |year=2004 |title=America's Friend: Reflections on Tony Blair |url=http://www.logosjournal.com/issue_3.4/seddon.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118024708/http://www.logosjournal.com/issue_3.4/seddon.htm |archive-date=18 November 2006 |access-date=18 November 2006 |website=Logos 3.4}}
Once elected, Blair's political ascent was rapid. Neil Kinnock appointed him in 1984 as assistant Treasury spokesman under Roy Hattersley who was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.{{Cite news |last=Langdon |first=Julia |date=8 November 1984 |title=Shadow team gets infusion of new blood |work=The Guardian |page=2}}{{Cite news |last=Watt |first=Nicholas |date=30 April 2007 |title='He's a bastard but he's our bastard' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/apr/30/uk.interviews2 |access-date=8 November 2024 |work=The Guardian}} In May 1985, he appeared on the BBC's Question Time, arguing that the Conservative Government's Public Order White Paper was a threat to civil liberties.{{Cite web |title=BBC Archive |url=http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/programme/LCAQ520E |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714123209/http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/programme/LCAQ520E |archive-date=14 July 2012 |access-date=20 April 2010 |publisher=BBC Programme Catalogue}}
Blair demanded an inquiry into the Bank of England's decision to rescue the collapsed Johnson Matthey bank in October 1985. By this time, Blair was aligned with the reforming tendencies in the party (headed by leader Neil Kinnock) and in 1988 was promoted to the shadow Trade and Industry team as spokesman on the City of London.Jeffreys 1999, p. 216
= Leadership roles =
In 1987, he stood for election to the Shadow Cabinet, receiving 71 votes.{{Cite news |last=Carvel |first=John |date=9 July 1987 |title=A fresh team of 'Yaks' will take on Labour's burden |work=The Guardian |page=2}} When Kinnock resigned after a fourth consecutive Conservative victory in the 1992 general election, Blair became shadow home secretary under John Smith. The old guard argued that trends showed they were regaining strength under Smith's strong leadership. Meanwhile, the breakaway SDP faction had merged with the Liberal Party; the resulting Liberal Democrats seemed to pose a major threat to the Labour base. Blair, the leader of the modernising faction, had an entirely different vision, arguing that the long-term trends had to be reversed. The Labour Party was too locked into a base that was shrinking, since it was based on the working-class, on trade unions, and on residents of subsidised council housing. The rapidly growing middle-class was largely ignored, especially the more ambitious working-class families. They aspired to middle-class status but accepted the Conservative argument that Labour was holding ambitious people back with its levelling-down policies. They increasingly saw Labour in terms defined by the opposition, regarding higher taxes and higher interest rates. The steps towards what would become New Labour were procedural but essential. Calling on the slogan "One member, one vote", John Smith, with limited input from Blair, secured an end to the trade union block vote for Westminster candidate selection at the 1993 conference.{{Harv|Rentoul|2001|pp=206–18}} But Blair and the modernisers wanted Smith to go further still, and called for radical adjustment of Party goals by repealing "Clause IV", the historic commitment to nationalisation of industry. This would be achieved in 1995.{{Harv|Rentoul|2001|pp=249–66}}
= Leader of the Opposition =
{{See also|Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair}}
John Smith died suddenly of a heart attack on 12 May 1994. Blair defeated John Prescott and Margaret Beckett in the subsequent leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition.{{Cite news |date=10 May 2007 |title=Timeline: The Blair Years |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6625869.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327023954/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6625869.stm |archive-date=27 March 2013 |access-date=2 May 2013 |work=BBC News}} As is customary for the holder of that office, Blair was appointed a Privy Counsellor.{{Cite web |last=Leigh |first=Rayment |title=Privy Counsellors 1969–present |url=http://www.leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil4.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607022558/http://leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil4.htm |archive-date=7 June 2008 |access-date=2 May 2013}} It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington, in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership election.{{Cite news |last=White |first=Michael |author-link=Michael White (journalist) |date=6 June 2003 |title=The guarantee which came to dominate new Labour politics for a decade |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jun/06/uk.labour |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011064835/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/jun/06/uk.labour |archive-date=11 October 2008 |access-date=1 March 2008 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite magazine |last=Mayer |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine Mayer |date=16 January 2005 |title=Fight Club |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901050124-1018039-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127020143/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C901050124-1018039-2%2C00.html |archive-date=27 January 2008 |access-date=1 March 2008 |magazine=Time}}{{Cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Colin |last2=d'Ancona |first2=Matthew |author-link2=Matthew d'Ancona |title=The night that power was on the menu |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1432329/The-night-that-power-was-on-the-menu.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802123218/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1432329/The-night-that-power-was-on-the-menu.html |archive-date=2 August 2017 |access-date=11 May 2017 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown was central to the fortunes of New Labour, and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.{{Cite news |last=Wheeler |first=Brian |date=10 May 2007 |title=The Tony Blair story |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6506365.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127141458/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6506365.stm |archive-date=27 November 2007 |access-date=1 March 2008 |work=BBC News}}
During his speech at the 1994 Labour Party conference, Blair announced a forthcoming proposal to update the party's objects and objectives, which was widely interpreted to relate to replacing Clause IV of the party's constitution with a new statement of aims and values.{{Cite web |title=Leader's speech, Blackpool 1994 |url=http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=200 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111014511/http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=200 |archive-date=11 November 2022 |access-date=21 July 2022 |publisher=British Political Speech}}{{Cite news |last=White |first=Michael |date=5 October 1994 |title=Blair defines the new Labour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1994/oct/05/speeches.michaelwhite |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721083335/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1994/oct/05/speeches.michaelwhite |archive-date=21 July 2022 |access-date=21 July 2022 |work=The Guardian}} This involved the deletion of the party's stated commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production and exchange", which was generally understood to mean wholesale nationalisation of major industries.{{Cite book |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/326 |title=How We Got Here: The '70s |publisher=Basic Books |year=2000 |isbn=0-465-04195-7 |location=New York City |page=[https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/326 326]}} At a special conference in April 1995, the clause was replaced by a statement that the party is "democratic socialist",{{Cite book |last1=Peter Barberis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA268 |title=Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century |last2=John McHugh |last3=Mike Tyldesley |publisher=A&C Black |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8264-5814-8 |page=268 |access-date=23 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214233554/https://books.google.com/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA268 |archive-date=14 February 2016 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |year=2006 |title=About Labour |url=http://www.labour.org.uk/aboutlabour |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116065904/http://www.labour.org.uk/aboutlabour |archive-date=16 November 2006 |access-date=18 November 2006 |publisher=The Labour Party}} and Blair also claimed to be a "democratic socialist" himself in the same year.{{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Tony |author-link=Anthony Charles Lynton Blair |title=Let Us Face the Future |publisher=Fabian Society |year=1995 |page=2 |chapter=2: Labour Past, Present and Future |issn=0307-7523 |access-date=3 January 2016 |chapter-url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/let-us-face-the-future-the-1945-anniversary-lecture-1995/119896?item=119903 |via=LSE Digital Library}} However, the move away from nationalisation in the old Clause IV made many on the left wing of the Labour Party feel that Labour was moving away from traditional socialist principles of nationalisation set out in 1918, and was seen by them as part of a shift of the party towards "New Labour".{{Cite news |last=Gani |first=Aisha |date=9 August 2015 |title=Clause IV: a brief history |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/09/clause-iv-of-labour-party-constitution-what-is-all-the-fuss-about-reinstating-it |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223212831/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/09/clause-iv-of-labour-party-constitution-what-is-all-the-fuss-about-reinstating-it |archive-date=23 December 2015 |access-date=23 January 2016 |work=The Guardian}}
Blair inherited the Labour leadership at a time when the party was ascendant over the Conservatives in the opinion polls, since the Conservative government's reputation in monetary policy declined as a result of the Black Wednesday economic disaster of September 1992. Blair's election as leader saw Labour support surge higher still{{Cite news |date=15 April 2005 |title=1997: Labour landslide ends Tory rule |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393323.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901033201/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393323.stm |archive-date=1 September 2017 |access-date=10 September 2010 |work=BBC News}} in spite of the continuing economic recovery and fall in unemployment that the Conservative government (led by John Major) had overseen since the end of the 1990–92 recession. At the 1996 Labour Party conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education, and education".{{Cite news |last=Coughlan |first=Sean |date=14 May 2007 |title=Education, education, education |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6564933.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504084704/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6564933.stm |archive-date=4 May 2009 |access-date=24 January 2022 |work=BBC News}}
Aided by the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government (itself deeply divided over the European Union),See Maastricht Rebels Blair won a landslide victory for Labour at the 1997 general election, ending eighteen years of Conservative Party government, with the heaviest Conservative defeat since 1906.{{Cite news |last=Early |first=Chas |date=2 May 2015 |title=May 2, 1997: Labour win general election by a landslide to end 18 years of Conservative rule |url=http://home.bt.com/news/world-news/may-2-1997-labour-win-general-election-by-a-landslide-to-end-18-years-of-conservative-rule-11363978822083 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201044443/http://home.bt.com/news/world-news/may-2-1997-labour-win-general-election-by-a-landslide-to-end-18-years-of-conservative-rule-11363978822083 |archive-date=1 February 2016 |access-date=24 January 2016 |work=BT News |quote=The Labour Party won its greatest-ever number of seats in a landslide general election victory on this day in 1997, ending 18 years of Conservative rule... In their worst election defeat since 1906, the Conservatives retained just 165 MPs, with their smallest share of the vote since 1832 under the Duke of Wellington.}} In 1996, the manifesto New Labour, New Life for Britain was published, which set out the party's new "Third Way" centrist approach to policy, and was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. In May 1995, Labour had achieved considerable success in the local and European elections and had won four by-elections. For Blair, these achievements were a source of optimism, as they indicated that the Conservatives were in decline. Virtually every opinion poll since late-1992 put Labour ahead of the Conservatives with enough support to form an overall majority.[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oHcxlAbkTJmqfOxYQM22cvjjjRf5pETIF30x7L-qybc/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=0 All Guardian/ICM poll results] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214233554/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oHcxlAbkTJmqfOxYQM22cvjjjRf5pETIF30x7L-qybc/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=0|date=14 February 2016}} (Google Docs). Via [https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/oct/21/icm-poll-data-labour-conservatives this] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312150739/https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/oct/21/icm-poll-data-labour-conservatives|date=12 March 2017}} article.
Prime Minister (1997–2007)
{{further|Premiership of Tony Blair|First Blair ministry|Second Blair ministry|Third Blair ministry}}
File:Clinton Blair.jpg in Italy, 1999]]
Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997; aged 43, he was the youngest person to reach that office since Lord Liverpool became prime minister aged 42 in 1812.{{Cite web |title=Biography: The Prime Minister Tony Charles Lynton Blair |url=http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page4.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604003655/http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page4.asp |archive-date=4 June 2007 |access-date=18 November 2006 |publisher=Prime Minister's Office}} He was also the first prime minister born after the Second World War and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne. With victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005, Blair was the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister,{{Cite web |date=6 February 2005 |title=Blair Labour's longest-serving PM |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4240165.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910044617/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4240165.stm |archive-date=10 September 2007 |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=BBC News}} and the first person (and the only one, to date) to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.{{Cite news |last=Rawnsley |first=Andrew |date=30 April 2017 |title=Tony Blair: 'Labour can win at any point that it wants to get back to winning ways' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/30/tony-blair-labour-can-win-andrew-rawnsley-brexit-election |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710081046/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/30/tony-blair-labour-can-win-andrew-rawnsley-brexit-election |archive-date=10 July 2017 |access-date=10 July 2017 |work=The Guardian |quote=... made possible only by his unique feat of winning three back-to-back terms for his party}}
= Northern Ireland =
File:TonyBlairArmagh1998.jpg, 1998]]
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.{{Cite web |title=1998: Northern Ireland peace deal reached |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/10/newsid_2450000/2450823.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120921/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/10/newsid_2450000/2450823.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |website=BBC News Archive|date=10 April 1998 }}{{Cite news |last=Stephens |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Stephens (journalist) |date=10 May 2007 |title=Blair's remarkable record |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/36fa51da-fe30-11db-bdc7-000b5df10621.html |work=Financial Times}} Following the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998, by members of the Real IRA opposed to the peace process, which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds, Blair visited the County Tyrone town and met with victims at Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.{{Cite news |date=24 December 2007 |title=Omagh, Northern Ireland's worst atrocity |work=Telegraph.co.uk}}
= Military intervention and the War on Terror =
In his first six years in office, Blair ordered British troops into combat five times, more than any other prime minister in British history. This included Iraq in both 1998 and 2003, Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2000) and Afghanistan (2001).{{Cite web |date=22 February 2007 |title=Blair: The Inside Story |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/6361771.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223141101/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/6361771.stm |archive-date=23 December 2007 |website=BBC}}
File:BushBlairIraqSov.jpg at a NATO summit in Turkey, June 2004]]
The Kosovo War, which Blair had advocated on moral grounds, was initially a failure when it relied solely on air strikes; the threat of a ground offensive convinced Serbia's Slobodan Milošević to withdraw. Blair had been a major advocate for a ground offensive, which Bill Clinton was reluctant to do, and ordered that 50,000 soldiers – most of the available British Army – should be made ready for action.Andrew Marr, A History of Modern Britain (2008 printing), p. 550 The following year, the limited Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone swiftly swung the tide against the rebel forces; before deployment, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone had been on the verge of collapse.Gberie, Lansana (2005). A Dirty War in West Africa: the RUF and the Destruction of Sierra Leone, p. 176. Indiana UP. Palliser had been intended as an evacuation mission but Brigadier David Richards was able to convince Blair to allow him to expand the role; at the time, Richards' action was not known and Blair was assumed to be behind it.{{Cite news |last=Little |first=Allan |date=15 May 2010 |title=The brigadier who saved Sierra Leone |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8682505.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110328205558/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8682505.stm |archive-date=28 March 2011 |access-date=20 March 2011 |work=BBC News}}
Blair ordered Operation Barras, a highly successful SAS/Parachute Regiment strike to rescue hostages from a Sierra Leone rebel group.{{Cite web |date=11 September 2000 |title=After 16 long days, free in 20 minutes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/sep/11/sierraleone5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029210546/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/sep/11/sierraleone5 |archive-date=29 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014 |website=The Guardian}} Journalist Andrew Marr has argued that the success of ground attacks, real and threatened, over air strikes alone was influential on how Blair planned the Iraq War, and that the success of the first three wars Blair fought "played to his sense of himself as a moral war leader".Andrew Marr, A History of Modern Britain (2008 printing); p. 551 When asked in 2010 if the success of Palliser may have "embolden[ed] British politicians" to think of military action as a policy option, General Sir David Richards admitted there "might be something in that".
File:Blair Bush Whitehouse (2004-11-12).jpg of the White House, November 2004]]
From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of George W. Bush, participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it.{{Cite news |date=3 August 2010 |title=The rise and fall of New Labour |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10518842 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805051127/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10518842 |archive-date=5 August 2010 |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=BBC News}} As a result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. Alastair Campbell described Blair's statement that the intelligence on WMDs was "beyond doubt" as his "assessment of the assessment that was given to him."Quoted by satirist Armando Ianucci and called his 'favourite sentence of the Inquiry so far', Radio 5 Live. Retrieved 23 January 2016. In 2009, Blair stated that he would have supported removing Saddam Hussein from power even in the face of proof that he had no such weapons.{{Cite news |last1=Butt |first1=Riazat |last2=Norton-Taylor |first2=Richard |date=12 December 2009 |title=Tony Blair admits: I would have invaded Iraq anyway |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/dec/12/tony-blair-iraq-chilcot-inquiry |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908203715/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/dec/12/tony-blair-iraq-chilcot-inquiry |archive-date=8 September 2013 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK}} Playwright Harold Pinter and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Blair of war crimes.{{Cite news |date=1 August 2008 |title=Malaysian former PM Mahathir accuses Tony Blair as war criminal |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/01/content_8890239.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705140700/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/01/content_8890239.htm |archive-date=5 July 2009 |access-date=20 April 2010 |agency=Xinhua News Agency}}{{Cite news |last=Fickling |first=David |date=7 December 2005 |title=Pinter demands war crimes trial for Blair |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/07/iraq.booksnews |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829204452/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/07/iraq.booksnews |archive-date=29 August 2013 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK}}
Testifying before the Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010, Blair said Saddam Hussein was a "monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world."{{Cite news |date=29 January 2010 |title=Iraq inquiry hears defiant Blair say: I'd do it again |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8485694.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805021131/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8485694.stm |archive-date=5 August 2017 |access-date=29 January 2010 |work=BBC News}} Blair said that British and American attitude towards Hussein had "changed dramatically" after the September 11 attacks. Blair denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if he had thought Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He said he believed the world was safer as a result of the invasion.{{Cite news |date=29 January 2010 |title=Tony Blair defends UK involvement in Iraq war |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8485694.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805020551/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8485694.stm |archive-date=5 August 2017 |access-date=29 January 2010 |work=BBC News}} He said there was "no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm: regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations."{{Cite news |last1=Mulholland |first1=Helene |last2=Sparrow |first2=Andrew |date=29 January 2010 |title=Tony Blair at Iraq inquiry – the key points |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jan/29/tony-blair-iraq-inquiry-key-points |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909081745/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jan/29/tony-blair-iraq-inquiry-key-points |archive-date=9 September 2013 |access-date=29 January 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=UK}}
In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria, Blair apologised for his "mistakes" over the Iraq War and admitted there were "elements of truth" to the view that the invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS.{{Cite news |last=Osley |first=Richard |date=25 October 2015 |title=Tony Blair apologises for 'mistakes' over Iraq War and admits 'elements of truth' to view that invasion helped rise of ISIS |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/tony-blair-apologises-for-mistakes-over-iraq-war-and-admits-elements-of-truth-to-view-that-invasion-a6707776.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722050116/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/tony-blair-apologises-for-mistakes-over-iraq-war-and-admits-elements-of-truth-to-view-that-invasion-a6707776.html |archive-date=22 July 2017 |access-date=28 October 2015 |work=The Independent}} The Chilcot Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War, though the former prime minister again refused to apologise for his decision to back the US-led invasion.{{Cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=6 July 2016 |title=Tony Blair unrepentant as Chilcot gives crushing Iraq war verdict |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707153638/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war |archive-date=7 July 2016 |access-date=7 July 2016 |work=The Guardian}}
= Relationship with Parliament =
One of Blair's first acts as prime minister was to replace the then twice-weekly 15-minute sessions of Prime Minister's Questions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a single 30-minute session on Wednesdays. In addition to PMQs, Blair held monthly press conferences at which he fielded questions from journalists{{Cite news |last=Tempest |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Tempest |date=7 September 2004 |title=Tony Blair's press conference |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/07/media.media |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034144/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/07/media.media |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=21 November 2006 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian Newspapers Ltd. |location=London, UK}} and, from 2002, broke precedent by agreeing to give evidence twice yearly before the most senior Commons select committee, the Liaison Committee.{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=George |author-link=George Jones (journalist) |date=27 April 2002 |title=Blair agrees to face grilling by select committee critics |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1392335/Blair-agrees-to-face-grilling-by-select-committee-critics.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122063609/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1392335/Blair-agrees-to-face-grilling-by-select-committee-critics.html |archive-date=22 January 2018 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=The Daily Telegraph}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Kershaw |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Kershaw |date=10 May 2007 |title=How will history judge Blair? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6636091.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513190514/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6636091.stm |archive-date=13 May 2007 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=BBC News}}{{Cite book |last=Morrison |first=James |title=Essential Public Affairs for Journalists |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-870875-9 |edition=4th |location=Oxford |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ygm3BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 85]}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Garton Ash |first=Timothy |author-link=Timothy Garton Ash |date=24 July 2003 |title=President Blair: Americans love our leader but may cause his downfall |url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,1004735,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034244/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jul/24/labour.uk |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=The Guardian}} Blair was accused of excessive reliance on spin.{{Cite web |last=Marr |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Marr |date=10 May 2007 |title=How Blair put the media in a spin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6638231.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427211850/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6638231.stm |archive-date=27 April 2009 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=BBC News}}{{Cite magazine |last=Wheatcroft |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Wheatcroft |date=June 1996 |title=The Paradoxical Case of Tony Blair |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/06/the-paradoxical-case-of-tony-blair/376602/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411080647/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/06/the-paradoxical-case-of-tony-blair/376602/ |archive-date=11 April 2015 |access-date=10 April 2014 |magazine=The Atlantic Monthly |pages=22–40 |volume=277 |quote=[Blair] has appointed a shadow team of more than a hundred parliamentary spokesmen—a ridiculous number considering that there are only 271 Labour MPs in all. |number=6}} He was the first UK prime minister to have been formally questioned by police, though not under caution, while still in office.{{Cite web |date=14 December 2006 |title=Blair questioned in honours probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6179911.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516085119/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6179911.stm |archive-date=16 May 2007 |website=BBC News}}
= Events before resignation =
{{For timeline|2007 Labour Party leadership election (UK)}}
File:Blair visiting Poland April 07.jpg
As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament,{{Cite web |date=8 November 2003 |title=Blair a casualty of UK support for Iraq war |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/nov/08/20031108-111529-7094r/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112192401/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/nov/08/20031108-111529-7094r/ |archive-date=12 November 2009 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Washington Times}}{{Cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Colin |last2=McSmith |first2=Andy |date=15 December 2006 |title=Diplomat's suppressed document lays bare the lies behind Iraq war |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diplomats-suppressed-document-lays-bare-the-lies-behind-iraq-war-428545.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113214856/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diplomats-suppressed-document-lays-bare-the-lies-behind-iraq-war-428545.html |archive-date=13 January 2016 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Independent}} and his popularity dropped as a result,{{Cite web |date=9 May 2007 |title=Blair Risked Much in Support of U.S.-UK Friendship |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10102727 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011211441/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10102727 |archive-date=11 October 2017 |website=NPR}}{{Cite web |date=17 February 2003 |title=Talk of war dents Blair's popularity |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1422365/Talk-of-war-dents-Blairs-popularity.html |url-access=registration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122072003/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1422365/Talk-of-war-dents-Blairs-popularity.html |archive-date=22 January 2018 |website=The Daily Telegraph}} with Labour's overall majority at the 2005 election reduced from 167 to 66 seats. As a combined result of the Blair–Brown pact, the Iraq War and low approval ratings, pressure built up within the Labour Party for Blair to resign.{{Cite news |date=10 May 2007 |title=The End of the Tony Show |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,482199,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017135406/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,482199,00.html |archive-date=17 October 2007 |work=Der Spiegel}} Over the summer of 2006, many MPs criticised Blair for not calling for a ceasefire in the Israel–Lebanon conflict.{{Cite book |last=Mehdi Hasan, James Macintyre |url=https://archive.org/details/edmilibandsmakin0000hasa |title=Ed: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84954-102-2 |quote=MPs now agree that the Lebanon fiasco did more than any other single episode to lead to the eventual removal of Blair |url-access=registration}} On 7 September 2006, Blair publicly stated he would step down as leader by the time of the Trades Union Congress conference held from 10 to 13 September 2007,{{Cite news |date=7 September 2006 |title=I will quit within a year – Blair |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5322094.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117032828/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5322094.stm |archive-date=17 November 2006 |access-date=18 November 2006 |work=BBC News}} despite promising to serve a full term during the previous general election campaign. On 10 May 2007, during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club, Blair announced his intention to resign as both Labour leader and prime minister,{{Cite news |last=Kuenssberg |first=Laura |date=10 May 2007 |title=Tony Blair's Sedgefield send-off |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6643875.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921051111/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6643875.stm |archive-date=21 September 2008 |access-date=23 November 2020 |work=BBC.co.uk |authorlink=Laura Kuenssberg}} triggering a leadership election in which Brown was the only candidate.{{Cite web |date=17 May 2007 |title=Labour leadership, close of nominations |url=http://www.labour.org.uk/leadership/nominations_close_-_1230_thursday_17_may |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921050327/http://www.labour.org.uk/leadership/nominations_close_-_1230_thursday_17_may |archive-date=21 September 2007 |website=Labour Party}}
At a special party conference in Manchester on 24 June 2007, Blair formally handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Brown, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in Blair's three ministries.{{Cite news |date=27 June 2007 |title=Brown is UK's new prime minister |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6245682.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309001812/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6245682.stm |archive-date=9 March 2008 |access-date=27 June 2007 |work=BBC News}} Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister on 27 June and Brown assumed office the same afternoon. Blair resigned from his Sedgefield seat in the traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, to which he was appointed by Brown in one of the latter's last acts as chancellor;{{Cite news |last1=Churcher |first1=Joe |last2=Woodcock |first2=Andrew |date=27 June 2007 |title=Blair resigns as MP and heads for Mideast role |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/article2715349.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001033125/http://news.independent.co.uk/article2715349.ece |archive-date=1 October 2007 |access-date=27 June 2007 |work=The Independent |location=UK}} the resulting by-election was won by Labour candidate Phil Wilson.{{Cite web |last=Yeoman |first=Fran |date=20 July 2007 |title=Victory for Blair's aide keeps the flame alive |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/victory-for-blairs-aide-keeps-the-flame-alive-8pplwbjhq2n |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120011433/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/victory-for-blairs-aide-keeps-the-flame-alive-8pplwbjhq2n |archive-date=20 November 2023 |access-date=11 October 2023 |website=The Times}} Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation Honours, making him the first prime minister of the modern era not to do so.{{Cite news |last=Pierce |first=Andrew |date=7 October 2007 |title=Tony Blair refuses to produce an honours list |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565263/Tony-Blair-refuses-to-produce-an-honours-list.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203112440/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565263/Tony-Blair-refuses-to-produce-an-honours-list.html |archive-date=3 December 2011 |access-date=7 October 2008 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK}}
Policies
{{further|Blairism}}
In 2001, Blair said, "We are a left of centre party, pursuing economic prosperity and social justice as partners and not as opposites."{{Cite web |last1=Toynbee |first1=Polly |author-link1=Polly Toynbee |last2=White |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael White (journalist) |last3=Wintour |first3=Patrick |author-link3=Patrick Wintour |date=11 September 2001 |title='We're a left-of-centre party pursuing prosperity and social justice' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/sep/11/publicservices |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034149/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/sep/11/publicservices |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Guardian}} Blair rarely applies such labels to himself; he promised before the 1997 election that New Labour would govern "from the radical centre", and according to one lifelong Labour Party member always described himself as a social democrat.[http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2007/5/17/73955/4678 "The Death of Socialism"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070603154210/http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2007/5/17/73955/4678 |date=3 June 2007}}, hulver.com, 17 May 2007. In a 2007 opinion piece in The Guardian, left-wing commentator Neil Lawson described Blair as to the right of centre.{{Cite web |last=Lawson |first=Neal |author-link=Neal Lawson |date=19 April 2007 |title=A decade of Blair has left the Labour party on its knees |url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,2060360,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034143/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/apr/19/comment.politics |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Guardian}} A YouGov opinion poll in 2005 found that a small majority of British voters, including many New Labour supporters, placed Blair on the right of the political spectrum.{{Cite web |date=23 September 2005 |title=Left vs Right |url=http://www.ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703231557/http://www.ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/30 |archive-date=3 July 2007 |website=YouGov UK Polling Report}} The Financial Times argued that Blair is not conservative but instead a populist.{{Cite web |date=18 May 2007 |title=Why Blair was no conservative |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9526a670-04dc-11dc-80ed-000b5df10621.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512130835/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9526a670-04dc-11dc-80ed-000b5df10621,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F9526a670-04dc-11dc-80ed-000b5df10621.html&_i_referer= |archive-date=12 May 2008 |website=Financial Times}}
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. Some left-wing critics, such as Mike Marqusee in 2001, argued that Blair oversaw the final stage of a long term shift of the Labour Party to the right.{{Cite journal |last=Marquesee |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Marqusee |date=Summer 2001 |title=Labour's long march to the right |url=http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj91/marqusee.htm |url-status=dead |journal=International Socialism |issue=91 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422134305/http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj91/marqusee.htm |archive-date=22 April 2007}}
There is some evidence that Blair's long term dominance of the centre forced his Conservative opponents to shift a long distance to the left to challenge his hegemony there.{{Cite web |last=Rice-Oxley |first=Mark |date=11 May 2007 |title=Tony Blair's decade of peace and war |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0511/p01s03-woeu.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515151101/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0511/p01s03-woeu.html |archive-date=15 May 2007 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Christian Science Monitor}} Leading Conservatives of the post-New Labour era hold Blair in high regard: George Osborne describes him as "the master", Michael Gove thought he had an "entitlement to conservative respect" in February 2003, while David Cameron reportedly maintained Blair as an informal adviser.{{Cite news |last=Pickard |first=Jim |date=3 February 2016 |title=Conservatives: the party of business? |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/70295a84-c4f4-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204192302/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/70295a84-c4f4-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45.html |archive-date=4 February 2016 |access-date=8 February 2016 |work=Financial Times}}{{Cite news |last=Gove |first=Michael |date=25 February 2003 |title=I can't fight my feelings any more: I love Tony |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/columnists/article2042633.ece |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516171611/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/columnists/article2042633.ece |archive-date=16 May 2015 |access-date=17 January 2017 |work=The Times |location=London}}{{subscription required}}{{Cite news |last=Oborne |first=Peter |date=22 May 2014 |title=David Cameron's friendship with Tony Blair is starting to do serious damage |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10846599/David-Camerons-friendship-with-Tony-Blair-isstarting-to-do-serious-damage.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207203927/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10846599/David-Camerons-friendship-with-Tony-Blair-isstarting-to-do-serious-damage.html |archive-date=7 February 2016 |access-date=8 February 2016 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} Former Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared Blair and New Labour to be her greatest achievement.{{Cite news |last1=Parker |first1=George |last2=Pickard |first2=Jim |date=2 April 2024 |title=Labour warms to Margaret Thatcher in bid to widen UK electoral appeal |url=https://www.ft.com/content/3c7554cd-b74e-4b24-8701-dc5a16134153 |access-date=7 June 2024 |work=Financial Times}}
= Social reforms =
Blair introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people; and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely with the EU. With specific regards to Blair's LGBTQ+ reforms, Blair introduced the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which granted civil partners rights and responsibilities similar to those in civil marriages, equalised the age of consent between straight and gay couples, ended the ban on gay people serving in the British military, introduced the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which allows those with gender dysphoria to legally change their gender, repealed Section 28, gave gay couples the right to adopt and enacted several anti-discrimination policies into law. In 2014 he was proclaimed a "gay icon" by the Gay Times.{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Chris |date=26 September 2014 |title=Former British PM Tony Blair hailed a 'gay icon' |url=https://www.euronews.com/2014/09/26/former-british-pm-tony-blair-hailed-a-gay-icon |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120011433/https://www.euronews.com/2014/09/26/former-british-pm-tony-blair-hailed-a-gay-icon |archive-date=20 November 2023 |access-date=11 October 2023 |website=euronews}}
The New Labour government increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders.{{Cite web |last=Silverman |first=Jon |date=14 May 2007 |title=Blair's new look civil liberties |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4838684.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115142259/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4838684.stm |archive-date=15 January 2009 |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=BBC News}} Under Blair's government the amount of new legislation increased{{Cite web |date=1 June 2007 |title=Tony Blair's legacy: 20% jump in amount of legislation introduced per year |url=http://www.sweetandmaxwell.thomson.com/about-us/press-releases/010607.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717051629/http://www.sweetandmaxwell.thomson.com/about-us/press-releases/010607.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2011 |access-date=20 April 2010}} which attracted criticism.{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Nigel |date=16 August 2006 |title=Blair's 'frenzied law making': a new offence for every day spent in office |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blairs-frenzied-law-making–a-new-offence-for-every-day-spent-in-office-412072.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210528173143/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blairs-frenzied-law-making%E2%80%93a-new-offence-for-every-day-spent-in-office-412072.html |archive-date=28 May 2021 |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=The Independent}} He also introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
= Economic policies =
Blair has been credited with overseeing a strong economy, with real incomes of British citizens growing 18% between 1997 and 2006. Britain saw rapid productivity growth and significant GDP growth, as well as falling poverty rates and inequality which, despite stubbornly failing to fall, stalled thanks to New Labour's economic policies (such as tax credits). Despite the financial bubble developing in the property markets, studies have credited the growth to investments in education and the maintenance of fiscal responsibility, rather than a financial sugar-high.{{Cite news |last1=Corry |first1=Dan |last2=Valero |first2=Anna |last3=Van Reenen |first3=John |date=15 November 2011 |title=UK ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE SINCE 1997: GROWTH, PRODUCTIVITY AND JOBS |url=https://cep.lse.ac.uk/conference_papers/15b_11_2011/CEP_Report_UK_Business_15112011.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404173937/https://cep.lse.ac.uk/conference_papers/15b_11_2011/CEP_Report_UK_Business_15112011.pdf |archive-date=4 April 2023 |access-date=13 April 2023 |work=London School of Economics}}
File:World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2005a.jpg in Davos, 2005]]
During his time as prime minister, Blair kept direct taxes low, while raising indirect taxation; invested a significant amount in Human capital; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights (while keeping Margaret Thatcher's trade union reforms).{{Cite news |last1=McSmith |first1=Andy |author-link1=Andy McSmith |last2=Chu |first2=Ben |last3=Garner |first3=Richard |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's legacy: Spilt milk, New Labour, and the Big Bang – she changed everything |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-legacy-spilt-milk-new-labour-and-the-big-bang--she-changed-everything-8564541.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501145656/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-legacy-spilt-milk-new-labour-and-the-big-bang--she-changed-everything-8564541.html |archive-date=1 May 2013 |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=The Independent}} He introduced substantial market-based reforms in the education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees; introduced a welfare to work scheme and sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments. He did not reverse the privatisation of the railways enacted by his predecessor John Major and instead strengthened regulation (by creating the Office of Rail Regulation) and limited fare rises to inflation +1%.{{Citation |title=Who we are |date=28 January 2014 |url=http://orr.gov.uk/about-orr/who-we-are |access-date=11 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312021110/http://orr.gov.uk/about-orr/who-we-are |archive-date=12 March 2014 |url-status=live |publisher=Office of Rail Regulation|bibcode=2014NatPh..10...85T |last1=Trabesinger |first1=Andreas |journal=Nature Physics |volume=10 |issue=2 |page=85 |doi=10.1038/nphys2888 }}[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/en2003/2003en20.htm Explanatory Notes to the Act] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027151849/http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/en2003/2003en20.htm |date=27 October 2007}}, opsi.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2016.{{Cite web |title=Rail fares and franchises |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmtran/233/233.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204032543/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmtran/233/233.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2016 |access-date=8 February 2016}}
File:NHS Spending 1948-2014.png
Blair and Brown raised spending on the NHS and other public services, increasing spending from 39.9% of GDP to 48.1% in 2010–11.{{Cite news |last=Riley |first=Ben |date=1 May 2015 |title=Did New Labour spend too much in government? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11576801/Did-New-Labour-spend-too-much-in-government.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131084422/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11576801/Did-New-Labour-spend-too-much-in-government.html |archive-date=31 January 2018 |access-date=8 June 2018 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite web |title=Public spending under Labour |url=https://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn92.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620045233/https://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn92.pdf |archive-date=20 June 2017 |access-date=8 June 2018}} They pledged in 2001 to bring NHS spending to the levels of other European countries, and doubled spending in real terms to over £100 billion in England alone.{{Cite news |date=20 February 2024 |title=How New Labour succeeded with NHS policy |url=https://www.ft.com/content/168e1278-2b24-11df-93d8-00144feabdc0?mhq5j=e2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018222455/https://www.ft.com/content/168e1278-2b24-11df-93d8-00144feabdc0?mhq5j=e2 |archive-date=18 October 2017 |access-date=10 July 2017 |work=Financial Times}}{{Subscription required}}
= Immigration =
Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997.{{Cite web |title=BBC Politics 97 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/news/06/0605/straw.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826020835/http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/news/06/0605/straw.shtml |archive-date=26 August 2010 |access-date=13 July 2018}} This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into the country. The former government advisor Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late 2000 until early 2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration.{{Cite news |last=Neather |first=Andrew |date=23 October 2009 |title=Don't listen to the whingers – London needs immigrants |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/dont-listen-to-the-whingers-london-needs-immigrants-6786170.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202101114/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23760073-dont-listen-to-the-whingers---london-needs-immigrants.do |archive-date=2 December 2009 |access-date=26 November 2009 |work=Evening Standard |location=London}}{{Cite news |last=Whitehead |first=Tom |date=23 October 2009 |title=Labour wanted mass immigration to make UK more multicultural, says former adviser |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6418456/Labour-wanted-mass-immigration-to-make-UK-more-multicultural-says-former-adviser.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027102146/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6418456/Labour-wanted-mass-immigration-to-make-UK-more-multicultural-says-former-adviser.html |archive-date=27 October 2009 |access-date=28 October 2009 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London}} Neather later stated that his words had been twisted, saying: "The main goal was to allow in more migrant workers at a point when – hard as it is to imagine now – the booming economy was running up against skills shortages.... Somehow this has become distorted by excitable Right-wing newspaper columnists into being a 'plot' to make Britain multicultural. There was no plot."{{Cite news |last=Neather |first=Andrew |date=26 October 2009 |title=How I became the story and why the Right is wrong |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/how-i-became-the-story-and-why-the-right-is-wrong-6739051.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202101114/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23760073-dont-listen-to-the-whingers---london-needs-immigrants.do |archive-date=2 December 2009 |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=Evening Standard}}
= Environmental record =
Blair criticised other governments for not doing enough to solve global climate change. In a 1997 visit to the United States, he made a comment on "great industrialised nations" that fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Again in 2003, Blair went before the United States Congress and said that climate change "cannot be ignored", insisting "we need to go beyond even Kyoto."{{Cite web |date=18 November 2003 |title=Tony Blair and Global Warming |url=http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2003/1118energy_sandalow.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008043739/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2003/1118energy_sandalow.aspx |archive-date=8 October 2008 |access-date=16 April 2008 |website=Brookings.edu}} Blair and his party promised a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide.{{Cite news |last=Lovell |first=Jeremy |date=29 March 2006 |title=Britain Set to Miss its Own Greenhouse Gas Target |url=http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35820/story.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622085716/http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35820/story.htm |archive-date=22 June 2011 |publisher=Planet Ark}} The Labour Party also claimed that by 2010 10% of the energy would come from renewable resources; however, it only reached 7% by that point.{{Cite web |title=Electricity generation |url=http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/electricity-generation.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925052820/http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/electricity-generation.html |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=23 September 2015}}
In 2000, Blair "flagged up" 100 million euros for green policies and urged environmentalists and businesses to work together.{{Cite web |date=24 October 2000 |title=Blair defends green record |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/988089.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115044406/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/988089.stm |archive-date=15 January 2009 |access-date=17 April 2008 |website=BBC News}}
= Foreign policy =
File:Chirac Bush Blair Berlusconi.jpg, George W. Bush, Blair and Silvio Berlusconi during the G8 Summit in Évian, 2003]]
Blair built his foreign policy on basic principles (close ties with the United States and European Union) and added a new activist philosophy of "interventionism". In 2001, Britain joined the U.S. in the global war on terror.{{Cite book |last=Holland |first=Jack |author-link=Jack Holland (writer) |title=Selling the war on terror: foreign policy discourses after 9/11 |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=9780415519755}}
Blair forged friendships with several European leaders, including Silvio Berlusconi of Italy,{{Cite web |date=15 March 2002 |title=Blair attacked over right-wing EU links |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1873866.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115130438/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1873866.stm |archive-date=15 January 2009 |website=BBC News}} Angela Merkel of Germany{{Cite web |last=Vulliamy |first=Ed |date=27 October 2005 |title=By their friends shall we know the Sultans of Bling: Blair's relationships with Berlusconi, Bush and Murdoch have defined his premiership. Now Merkel is to join the trio |url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,1601234,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034141/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/oct/27/labour.foreignpolicy |archive-date=4 December 2021 |website=The Guardian}} and later Nicolas Sarkozy of France.{{Cite web |last=Kettle |first=Martin |date=28 April 2007 |title=Why Ségo and Sarko have transfixed the British left |url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,2067442,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034139/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/apr/28/comment.politics1 |archive-date=4 December 2021 |website=The Guardian}}
File:2005 03 01 rice blair 600.jpg in 2005]]
Along with enjoying a close relationship with Bill Clinton, Blair formed a strong political alliance with George W. Bush, particularly in the area of foreign policy. For his part, Bush lauded Blair and the UK. In his post-9/11 speech, for example, he stated that "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".{{Cite web |date=21 November 2001 |title=President Declares 'Freedom at War with Fear' |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225062850/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html |archive-date=25 February 2008 |publisher=archives.gov}}
The alliance between Bush and Blair seriously damaged Blair's standing in the eyes of Britons angry at American influence;{{Cite news |last1=Glover |first1=Julian |last2=MacAskill |first2=Ewen |date=25 July 2006 |title=Stand up to US, voters tell Blair |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/jul/25/uk.topstories3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034246/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/jul/25/uk.topstories3 |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=22 November 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London |quote=Britain should take a much more robust and independent approach to the United States, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today, which finds strong public opposition to Blair's close working relationship with President Bush.}} a 2002 poll revealed that a large amount of Britons viewed Blair as a "lapdog" of Bush.{{Cite web |last=Staff and agencies |date=14 November 2002 |title=50% see Blair as Bush's lapdog |url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/nov/14/foreignpolicy.uk1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025210824/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/nov/14/foreignpolicy.uk1 |archive-date=25 October 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |website=The Guardian}} Blair argued it was in Britain's interest to "protect and strengthen the bond" with the United States regardless of who was in the White House.{{Cite web |date=3 November 2004 |title=PM's speech on US Elections |url=http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page6526.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070719002546/http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page6526.asp |archive-date=19 July 2007 |access-date=29 May 2007 |publisher=Prime Minister's Office}}
However, a perception of one-sided compromising personal and political closeness led to discussion of the term "Poodle-ism" in the UK media, to describe the "Special Relationship" of the UK government and prime minister with the US White House and president.{{Cite news |last=Young |first=Hugo |author-link=Hugo Young |date=14 November 2002 |title=Blair has not been a poodle, but poodleism still beckons |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/14/iraq.foreignpolicy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826183348/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/14/iraq.foreignpolicy |archive-date=26 August 2013 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London}} A revealing conversation between Bush and Blair, with the former addressing the latter as "Yo [or Yeah], Blair" was recorded when they did not know a microphone was live at the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg in 2006.{{Cite news |date=18 July 2006 |title=Transcript: Bush and Blair's unguarded chat |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5188258.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204192815/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5188258.stm |archive-date=4 February 2009 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=BBC News}}. In common with many news organisations the BBC transcribed Bush's greeting as "Yo, Blair", but this is a clear mishearing: see [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_westminster_hour/6234940.stm Great Political Myths] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225115653/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_westminster_hour/6234940.stm |date=25 February 2024 }} Part 1, BBC Radio 4, 15 July 2007.
== Middle East policy ==
On 30 January 2003, Blair signed The letter of the eight supporting U.S. policy on Iraq.{{Cite news |date=30 January 2003 |title=Full text of letter written by eight European leaders |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/full-text-of-letter-written-by-eight-european-leaders-1.459198 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728162240/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/full-text-of-letter-written-by-eight-european-leaders-1.459198 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |access-date=6 August 2019 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}
Blair showed a deep feeling for Israel, born in part from his faith.Anthony Seldon, Blair, (London: Free Press, 2005), p. 506. Blair has been a longtime member of the pro-Israel lobby group Labour Friends of Israel.{{Cite web |last=Uni |first=Assaf |date=10 December 2007 |title=Finance scandal has local community worried |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932399.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105085940/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932399.html |archive-date=5 January 2008 |website=Haaretz}}
In 1994, Blair forged close ties with Michael Levy, a leader of the Jewish Leadership Council.{{Cite news |last=Ferguson |first=Euan |date=19 March 2006 |title=There was once a jolly bagman |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/mar/19/constitution.partyfunding |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034148/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/mar/19/constitution.partyfunding |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=2 September 2013 |work=The Guardian |location=UK}} Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 election and raised £12 million towards Labour's landslide victory, Levy was rewarded with a peerage, and in 2002, Blair appointed Lord Levy as his personal envoy to the Middle East. Levy praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel".{{Cite news |last=Wavell |first=Stuart |date=19 March 2006 |title=Lord Cashpoint's touch of money magic |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2092803,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726222006/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2092803,00.html |archive-date=26 July 2008 |access-date=21 February 2007 |work=The Sunday Times |location=UK}} Tam Dalyell, while Father of the House of Commons, suggested in 2003 that Blair's foreign policy decisions were unduly influenced by a "cabal" of Jewish advisers, including Levy, Peter Mandelson and Jack Straw (the last two are not Jewish but have some Jewish ancestry).{{Cite news |date=4 May 2003 |title=Dalyell's 'Jewish cabal' remarks denied |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2999219.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726032213/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2999219.stm |archive-date=26 July 2017 |access-date=13 January 2014 |publisher=BBC |location=London, UK}}
Blair, on coming to office, had been "cool towards the right-wing Netanyahu government".Seldon, Blair, p. 506. During his first visit to Israel, Blair thought the Israelis bugged him in his car.{{Cite web |last=Watt |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Watt |date=20 January 2011 |title=Britain believes Israeli PM Netanyahu is an 'armour-plated bullshitter' – Alastair Campbell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/wintour-and-watt/2011/jan/20/alastaircampbell-binyamin-netanyahu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830060050/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/wintour-and-watt/2011/jan/20/alastaircampbell-binyamin-netanyahu |archive-date=30 August 2016 |access-date=13 December 2016 |website=The Guardian |location=London, UK}} After the election in 1999 of Ehud Barak, with whom Blair forged a close relationship, he became much more sympathetic to Israel. From 2001, Blair built up a relationship {{clarify|date=February 2016}} with Barak's successor, Ariel Sharon, and responded positively to Yasser Arafat, whom he had met thirteen times since becoming prime minister and regarded as essential to future negotiations. In 2004, 50 former diplomats, including ambassadors to Baghdad and Tel Aviv, stated they had "watched with deepening concern" at Britain following the US into war in Iraq in 2003. They criticised Blair's support for the road map for peace which included the retaining of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.{{Cite web |last=Tempest |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Tempest |date=26 April 2004 |title=Diplomats attack Blair's Israel policy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/apr/26/foreignpolicy.israel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034143/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/apr/26/foreignpolicy.israel |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=The Guardian}}
In 2006 Blair was criticised for his failure to immediately call for a ceasefire in the 2006 Lebanon War. The Observer newspaper claimed that at a cabinet meeting before Blair left for a summit with 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.{{Cite web |last1=Hinsliff |first1=Gaby |author-link1=Gaby Hinsliff |last2=Temko |first2=Ned |author-link2=Ned Temko |last3=Beaumont |first3=Peter |author-link3=Peter Beaumont (journalist) |date=30 July 2006 |title=Cabinet in open revolt over Blair's Israel policy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/jul/30/syria.israel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034238/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/jul/30/syria.israel |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=The Observer}} Blair was criticised for his solid stance alongside US president George W. Bush on Middle East policy.{{Cite web |last=Watt |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Watt |date=6 August 2006 |title=The 'Complex' Issue of 'Humanitarian' Intervention |url=http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10714 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20071013150814/http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10714 |archive-date=13 October 2007 |access-date=13 September 2010 |website=ZNetwork}}
== Syria and Libya ==
A Freedom of Information request by The Sunday Times in 2012 revealed that Blair's government considered knighting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The documents showed Blair was willing to appear alongside Assad at a joint press conference even though the Syrians would probably have settled for a farewell handshake for the cameras; British officials sought to manipulate the media to portray Assad in a favourable light; and Blair's aides tried to help Assad's "photogenic" wife Asma al-Assad boost her profile. The newspaper noted:
{{blockquote|The Arab leader was granted audiences with the Queen and the Prince of Wales, lunch with Blair at Downing Street, a platform in parliament and many other privileges ... The red carpet treatment he and his entourage received is embarrassing given the bloodbath that has since taken place under his rule in Syria ... The courtship has parallels with Blair's friendly relations with Muammar Gaddafi.{{Cite news |last=Gadher |first=Dipesh |date=1 July 2012 |title=Assad close to being knighted under Blair |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1072174.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023055710/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1072174.ece |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=5 July 2012 |work=The Sunday Times}}}}
Blair had been on friendly terms with Colonel Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, when sanctions imposed on the country were lifted by the US and the UK.{{Cite news |date=25 March 2004 |title=Blair hails new Libyan relations |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3566545.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601103256/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3566545.stm |archive-date=1 June 2013 |access-date=5 July 2012 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |last1=Freeman |first1=Colin |last2=Mendick |first2=Robert |date=17 September 2011 |title=Libya: Tony Blair and Col Gaddafi's secret meetings |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8771192/Libya-Tony-Blair-and-Col-Gaddafis-secret-meetings.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108100844/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8771192/Libya-Tony-Blair-and-Col-Gaddafis-secret-meetings.html |archive-date=8 November 2012 |access-date=5 July 2012 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London, UK}}
Even after the Libyan Civil War in 2011, he said he had no regrets about his close relationship with the late Libyan leader.{{Cite news |last=Croft |first=Adrian |date=9 September 2011 |title=UK's Blair: No regrets about befriending Gaddafi |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-blair-idUSTRE78827P20110909 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701083149/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/09/us-britain-blair-idUSTRE78827P20110909 |archive-date=1 July 2012 |access-date=5 July 2012 |work=Reuters}} During Blair's premiership, MI6 rendered Abdelhakim Belhaj to the Gaddafi regime in 2004, though Blair later claimed he had "no recollection" of the incident.{{Cite news |last=Norton-Taylor |first=Richard |date=11 April 2012 |title=Blair 'cannot recall' MI6 rendition of rebel Libyan to Gaddafi |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/11/rendition-evidence-mps-us-judge |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023060212/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/11/rendition-evidence-mps-us-judge |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=5 July 2012 |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK}}
== Zimbabwe ==
Blair had an antagonistic relationship with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and allegedly planned regime change against Mugabe in the early 2000s.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=27 November 2013 |title=Tony Blair plotted military intervention in Zimbabwe, claims Thabo Mbeki |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/27/tony-blair-military-intervention-zimbabwe-claim |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044629/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/27/tony-blair-military-intervention-zimbabwe-claim |archive-date=1 December 2017 |access-date=13 May 2017 |work=The Guardian}} Zimbabwe had embarked on a program of uncompensated land redistribution from the country's white commercial farmers to the black population, a policy that disrupted agricultural production and threw Zimbabwe's economy into chaos. General Charles Guthrie, the Chief of the Defence Staff, revealed in 2007 that he and Blair had discussed the invasion of Zimbabwe.{{Cite news |date=11 November 2007 |title=Lord Guthrie: 'Tony's General' turns defence into an attack |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/lord-guthrie-tonys-general-turns-defence-into-an-attack-399865.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828072040/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/lord-guthrie-tonys-general-turns-defence-into-an-attack-399865.html |archive-date=28 August 2009 |access-date=17 September 2017 |work=The Independent}} Guthrie advised against military action: "Hold hard, you'll make it worse." In 2013, South African president Thabo Mbeki said that Blair had pressured South Africa to join in a "regime change scheme, even to the point of using military force" in Zimbabwe. Mbeki refused because he felt that "Mugabe is part of the solution to this problem." However, a spokesman for Blair said that "he never asked anyone to plan or take part in any such military intervention."
== Russia ==
File:Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair-1.jpg in 2003]]
In 2000, Blair went on a trip to Moscow to watch a performance of the War and Peace opera with Vladimir Putin, while he was the acting president of Russia. This meeting was criticised by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.{{Cite news |last1=Traynor |first1=Ian |last2=White |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael White (journalist) |date=11 March 2000 |title=Blair courts outrage with Putin visit |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/11/russia.ethicalforeignpolicy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504143932/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/11/russia.ethicalforeignpolicy |archive-date=4 May 2022 |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Guardian}} In 2018, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, said there was "significant regret" over this trip, which helped Putin rise to power. Dearlove also alleged that in 2000, a KGB officer approached him, seeking Britain's help in boosting Putin's political profile, and this was why Blair met Putin in Russia.{{Cite news |last=Sanderson |first=David |date=1 October 2018 |title=MI6 regrets helping Vladimir Putin to win power, says ex-spy chief |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/mi6-regrets-helping-vladimir-putin-to-get-elected-says-ex-spy-chief-tbttxxljf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504145434/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mi6-regrets-helping-vladimir-putin-to-get-elected-says-ex-spy-chief-tbttxxljf |archive-date=4 May 2022 |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Times}}
Blair also hosted Putin in London in April 2000, despite hesitation towards Putin from other world leaders, and opposition from human rights groups over atrocities committed in Chechnya. Blair told Jim Hoagland of The Washington Post that "[Putin's] vision of the future is one that we would feel comfortable with. Putin has a very clear agenda of modernizing Russia. When he talks of a strong Russia, he means strength not in a threatening way but in a way that means the country economically and politically is capable of standing up for itself, which is a perfectly good aim to have".{{Cite news |last=Hoagland |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Hoagland |date=13 April 2000 |title=Putin's London Ally |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2000/04/13/putins-london-ally/8aba999d-2ea7-4af1-880f-222194024fb4/ |access-date=3 May 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite news |last=Gentleman |first=Amelia |author-link=Amelia Gentleman |date=16 April 2000 |title=Putin aims to bridge the gap |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/16/russia.ameliagentleman |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503221658/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/16/russia.ameliagentleman |archive-date=3 May 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=The Guardian}} During the meeting, Blair acknowledged and discussed "concerns about Chechnya",{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Michael R. |author-link=Michael R. Gordon |date=18 April 2000 |title=In Britain, Putin Finds Reform Popular, but Not Chechen War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/18/world/in-britain-putin-finds-reform-popular-but-not-chechen-war.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504051049/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/18/world/in-britain-putin-finds-reform-popular-but-not-chechen-war.html |archive-date=4 May 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=The New York Times}}{{Cite news |last1=MacAskill |first1=Ewen |author-link1=Ewen MacAskill |last2=Diggines |first2=Graham |date=18 April 2000 |title=Russia evades human rights issue |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/18/russia.world1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503221657/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/18/russia.world1 |archive-date=3 May 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=The Guardian}} but described Putin as a political reformer "who is ready to embrace a new relationship with the European Union and the United States, who wants a strong and modern Russia and a strong relationship with the West".{{Cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Maura |date=18 April 2000 |title=Visit to Britain Marks Western Debut for Putin |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-18-mn-20750-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503221657/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-18-mn-20750-story.html |archive-date=3 May 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times}}{{Cite news |last=Hopkins |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Hopkins |date=17 April 2000 |title=Blair defends 'reformer' Putin's visit to No 10 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/17/russia.nickhopkins |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503221658/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/17/russia.nickhopkins |archive-date=3 May 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=The Guardian}}
Relationship with media
= Rupert Murdoch =
Blair was reported by The Guardian in 2006 to have been supported politically by Rupert Murdoch, the founder of the News Corporation organisation.{{Cite web |last=Hinsliff |first=Gaby |date=23 July 2006 |title=The PM, the mogul and the secret agenda |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/23/newscorporation.rupertmurdoch |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034154/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/23/newscorporation.rupertmurdoch |archive-date=4 December 2021 |website=The Observer}} In 2011, Blair became godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch's children with Wendi Deng,{{Cite news |date=5 September 2011 |title=Tony Blair 'godfather to Rupert Murdoch's daughter' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14785501 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528115037/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14785501 |archive-date=28 May 2018 |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=BBC News}} but he and Murdoch later ended their friendship, in 2014, after Murdoch suspected him of having an affair with Deng while they were still married, according to The Economist magazine.{{Cite news |date=17 December 2014 |title=Life after power: The loneliness of Tony Blair |url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636603-celebrated-abroad-and-reviled-home-former-prime-minister-struggles-fulfil |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808114359/https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636603-celebrated-abroad-and-reviled-home-former-prime-minister-struggles-fulfil |archive-date=8 August 2017 |access-date=30 January 2024 |newspaper=The Economist}}{{Cite news |last=Alexander |first=Ella |date=19 December 2014 |title=Tony Blair loses cool after Economist grills him on rumours alleging Wendi Deng affair |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/tony-blair-loses-cool-after-economist-grills-him-on-alleged-wendi-deng-affair-9935174.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011212525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/tony-blair-loses-cool-after-economist-grills-him-on-alleged-wendi-deng-affair-9935174.html |archive-date=11 October 2017 |access-date=17 September 2017 |work=The Independent}}{{Cite magazine |last=Mark Seal |date=19 February 2014 |title=Read Wendi Deng Murdoch's Mash Note Allegedly About Tony Blair: "He Has Such Good Body" |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2014/03/wendi-deng-note-tony-blair |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329182542/http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2014/03/wendi-deng-note-tony-blair |archive-date=29 March 2016 |access-date=2 April 2016 |magazine=Vanity Fair}}{{Cite web |last=White |first=Michael |author-link=Michael White (journalist) |date=14 February 2014 |title=Tony Blair and Rupert Murdoch: the deconstruction of a friendship |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/14/tony-blair-rupert-murdoch-deconstruction-friendship-wendi-deng |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127023033/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/14/tony-blair-rupert-murdoch-deconstruction-friendship-wendi-deng |archive-date=27 November 2023 |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=The Guardian}}{{better source needed|date=January 2016|reason=as per WP:Public figures, multiple sources are needed for content of this kind}}
= 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.{{Cite news |date=19 July 2007 |title=Blair and Murdoch spoke days before Iraq war |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/19/freedomofinformation.iraq |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831173310/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/19/freedomofinformation.iraq |archive-date=31 August 2013 |access-date=26 December 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=UK}}
The response includes contacts "clearly of an official nature" in the specified period, but excludes contacts "not clearly of an official nature."{{Cite news |last=Fletcher |first=Kim |date=10 July 2006 |title=The meetings that matter between Murdoch and Blair |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/10/freedomofinformation.mondaymediasection |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034142/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/10/freedomofinformation.mondaymediasection |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=26 December 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=UK}} No details were given of the subjects discussed. In the period between September 2002 and April 2005, Blair and Murdoch are documented speaking six times; three times in the nine 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, Blair had three meetings with Richard Desmond; on 29 January and 3 September 2003, and 23 February 2004.{{Cite news |title=When Murdoch met Blair – information released |url=http://www.bindmans.com/index.php?id=289 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005040600/http://www.bindmans.com/index.php?id=289 |archive-date=5 October 2007 |access-date=26 December 2007 |work=Bindmans}}
The information was disclosed after a {{frac|3|1|2}}-year battle by the Liberal Democrats' Lord Avebury. Lord Avebury's initial October 2003 information request was dismissed by then leader of the Lords, Baroness Amos. 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. 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."
Blair appeared before the Leveson Inquiry on Monday 28 May 2012.{{Cite news |date=25 May 2012 |title=Tony Blair to appear before Leveson Inquiry |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18203161 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525181940/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18203161 |archive-date=25 May 2012 |access-date=25 May 2012 |publisher=BBC}} During his appearance, a protester, later named as David Lawley-Wakelin, got into the court-room and claimed he was guilty of war crimes before being dragged out.{{Cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |last2=Addley |first2=Esther |last3=O'Carroll |first3=Lisa |date=28 May 2012 |title=Tony Blair accused of war crimes by protester at Leveson inquiry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/may/28/tony-blair-protester-leveson-inquiry?intcmp=239 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225813/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/may/28/tony-blair-protester-leveson-inquiry?intcmp=239 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=13 December 2016 |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK}}
= Media portrayal =
Blair has been noted as a charismatic, articulate speaker with an informal style. Film and theatre director Richard Eyre opined that "Blair had a very considerable skill as a performer".{{Cite news |last=Eyre |first=Richard |date=5 September 2010 |title=The film and theatre director gives his verdict on Tony Blair's memoir |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/05/tony-blair-journey-richard-eyre |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023080634/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/05/tony-blair-journey-richard-eyre |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=2 May 2013 |work=The Guardian}} A few months after becoming prime minister Blair 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".{{Cite news |last=Buerkle |first=Tom |date=1 September 1997 |title=Charles Takes Diana's Body Home From Paris – World Mourns the 'People's Princess' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/01/news/01iht-london.html?pagewanted=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110922141412/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/01/news/01iht-london.html?pagewanted=1 |archive-date=22 September 2011 |access-date=20 July 2010 |work=The New York Times}}{{Cite news |date=9 July 2007 |title=Tony coined the 'people's princess' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1556863/Tony-coined-the-peoples-princess.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622155727/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1556863/Tony-coined-the-peoples-princess.html |archive-date=22 June 2015 |access-date=20 July 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London, UK}}
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.{{Cite web |title=About Alastair Campbell |url=http://www.alastaircampbell.org/about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630115037/http://www.alastaircampbell.org/about/ |archive-date=30 June 2012 |access-date=2 May 2013 |publisher=Alastair Campbell.org}}
Blair had close relationships with the Clinton family. The strong partnership with Bill Clinton was made into the film The Special Relationship in 2010.{{Cite web |last=Chozick |first=Amy |date=4 September 2015 |title=Blair and Clinton: The HBO Movie |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704269204575270753971277546 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011211445/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704269204575270753971277546 |archive-date=11 October 2017 |website=The Wall Street Journal}}
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. Some ministers viewed Blair's announcement of policy initiatives in September 2006 as an attempt to draw attention away from these issues.{{Cite news |last=Elliott |first=Francis |date=4 September 2006 |title='Deluded': Extraordinary attack on Blair by Cabinet |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1325433.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521155231/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1325433.ece |archive-date=21 May 2008 |access-date=25 May 2010 |work=The Independent |location=UK}}
File:Chancellor Gordon Brown official portrait (cropped).jpg (pictured) was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Blair. Together, they made a pact that Brown would succeed Blair as prime minister.]]
= Gordon Brown =
{{See also|Blair–Brown deal}}
After the death of John Smith in 1994, Blair and his close colleague Gordon Brown (they shared an office at the House of Commons) were both seen as possible candidates for the party leadership. They agreed not to stand against each other, it is said, as part of a supposed Blair–Brown pact. Brown, who considered himself the senior of the two, understood that Blair would give way to him: opinion polls soon indicated, however, that Blair appeared to enjoy greater support among voters.A MORI opinion poll published in The Sunday Times on 15 May found that, among the general public, Blair had the support of 32%, John Prescott 19%, Margaret Beckett 14%, Gordon Brown 9% and Robin Cook 5%.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} Their relationship in power became so turbulent that it was reported the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, often had to act as "marriage guidance counsellor".{{Cite news |last=Rawnsley |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Rawnsley |date=5 October 2003 |title=A marriage on the rocks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/oct/05/labour.tonyblair |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204034144/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/oct/05/labour.tonyblair |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date=5 March 2007 |work=The Observer |location=London}}
During the 2010 election campaign Blair publicly endorsed Brown's leadership, praising the way he had handled the financial crisis.{{Cite web |date=30 March 2010 |title=Tony Blair throws himself into election campaign with praise for Gordon Brown and harsh words for Tories |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/mar/30/tony-blair-speech-gordon-brown-tories |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304213810/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/mar/30/tony-blair-speech-gordon-brown-tories |archive-date=4 March 2016 |website=The Guardian}}
Post-premiership (2007–present)
= Diplomacy =
On 27 June 2007, Blair officially resigned as prime minister after ten years in office, and he was officially confirmed as Middle East envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia.{{Cite news |date=27 June 2007 |title=Blair becomes Middle East envoy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6244358.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714203757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6244358.stm |archive-date=14 July 2007 |access-date=27 June 2007 |work=BBC News}} Blair originally indicated that he would retain his parliamentary seat after his resignation as prime minister came into effect; however, on being confirmed for the Middle East role he resigned from the Commons by taking up an office of profit. 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".{{Cite news |date=21 June 2007 |title=US 'wants Blair' for Mid-East job |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6222848.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630190753/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6222848.stm |archive-date=30 June 2007 |access-date=24 June 2007 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |last1=Tempest |first1=Matthew |last2=Tran |first2=Mark |date=20 June 2007 |title=US approves of Blair as possible Middle East envoy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/jun/20/tonyblair.labour |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113214901/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/jun/20/tonyblair.labour |archive-date=13 January 2016 |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |location=London}} In May 2008 Blair announced a new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan.{{Cite web |last=Hider |first=James |date=14 May 2008 |title=Israel may ease grip in Tony Blair deal to revive West Bank |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3927184.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923203137/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3927184.ece |archive-date=23 September 2011 |website=The Times}} Blair resigned as envoy in May 2015.{{Cite news |date=27 May 2015 |title=Tony Blair quits Middle East envoy role |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32905468 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326012010/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32905468 |archive-date=26 March 2016 |access-date=3 April 2016 |work=BBC News}}
= Private sector =
In January 2008, it was confirmed that Blair would be joining investment bank JPMorgan Chase in a "senior advisory capacity"{{Cite news |date=10 January 2008 |title=Tony Blair joins investment bank |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7180306.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111022013/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7180306.stm |archive-date=11 January 2008 |access-date=10 January 2008 |work=BBC News}} and that he would advise Zurich Financial Services on climate change. His salary for this work is unknown, although it has been claimed it may be in excess of £500,000 per year. Blair also gives lectures, earning up to US$250,000 for a 90-minute speech, and in 2008 he was said to be the highest paid speaker in the world.{{Cite web |last1=Kerbaj |first1=Richard |author-link1=Richard Kerbaj |last2=Kennedy |first2=Dominic |last3=Hider |first3=James |date=29 October 2008 |title=Lectures see Tony Blair earnings jump over £12m |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5034235.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106165924/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5034235.ece |archive-date=6 January 2010 |website=The Times}}
Blair taught a course on issues of faith and globalisation at the Yale University Schools of Management and Divinity as a Howland distinguished fellow during the 2008–09 academic year. In July 2009, this accomplishment was followed by the launching of the Faith and Globalisation Initiative with Yale University in the US, Durham University in the UK, and the National University of Singapore in Asia, to deliver a postgraduate programme in partnership with the Foundation.{{Cite news |title=Tony Blair launches Faith and Globalisation programme at Durham University |url=http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=8243 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091209091851/http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=8243 |archive-date=9 December 2009 |access-date=13 July 2009}}{{Cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Chris |date=11 July 2009 |title=First faith course inspired by Blair |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4487623.first-faith-course-inspired-blair/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222012630/https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4487623.first-faith-course-inspired-blair/ |archive-date=22 February 2024 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Northern Echo}}
Blair's links with, and receipt of an undisclosed sum from, UI Energy Corporation, have also been subject to media comment in the UK.{{Cite news |last1=Hughes |first1=Solomon |author-link1=Solomon Hughes (journalist) |last2=Leigh |first2=David |author-link2=David Leigh (journalist) |date=17 March 2010 |title=Tony Blair got cash for deal with South Korean oil firm |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/mar/17/tony-blair-cash-south-korea-oil |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207191243/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/mar/17/tony-blair-cash-south-korea-oil |archive-date=7 December 2016 |access-date=13 December 2016 |work=The Guardian}}
In July 2010 it was reported that his personal security guards claimed £250,000 a year in expenses from the taxpayer. Foreign Secretary William Hague said; "we have to make sure that [Blair's security] is as cost-effective as possible, that it doesn't cost any more to the taxpayer than is absolutely necessary".{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Sam |date=4 July 2010 |title=Tony Blair's guards run up £250,000 a year in expenses |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jul/04/tony-blair-guards-expenses |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214172826/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jul/04/tony-blair-guards-expenses |archive-date=14 December 2013 |access-date=27 January 2011 |work=The Guardian |location=UK}}
= Tony Blair Associates =
File:Hashim Thaci - Tony Blair with Declaration of Independence of Kosovo.jpg and Blair with the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo in 2010]]
Blair established Tony Blair Associates to "allow him to provide, in partnership with others, strategic advice on a commercial and pro bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform".{{Cite web |last1=Leppard |first1=David |last2=Hughes |first2=Solomon |date=22 February 2009 |title=Tony Blair Inc: a nice little earner |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tony-blair-inc-a-nice-little-earner-5mhsl8clp3f |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113153737/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tony-blair-inc-a-nice-little-earner-5mhsl8clp3f |archive-date=13 January 2024 |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=The Sunday Times}} The profits from the firm go towards supporting Blair's "work on faith, Africa and climate change".{{Cite news |last=Watt |first=Nicholas |date=30 June 2013 |title=How Tony Blair paved way for first visit by serving British PM to Kazakhstan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/30/tony-blair-pave-way-kazakhstan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911034317/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/30/tony-blair-pave-way-kazakhstan |archive-date=11 September 2013 |access-date=13 January 2024 |work=The Guardian}}
Blair has been subject to criticism for potential conflicts of interest between his diplomatic role as a Middle East envoy, and his work with Tony Blair Associates,{{Cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Jason |last2=Copping |first2=Jasper |date=24 September 2011 |title=Tony Blair's Byzantine world of advisers and lucrative deals |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8787053/Tony-Blairs-Byzantine-world-of-advisers-and-lucrative-deals.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013220432/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8787053/Tony-Blairs-Byzantine-world-of-advisers-and-lucrative-deals.html |archive-date=13 October 2017 |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite web |last=Oborne |first=Peter |date=24 September 2011 |title=On the desert trail of Tony Blair's millions |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8784596/On-the-desert-trail-of-Tony-Blairs-millions.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805001708/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8784596/On-the-desert-trail-of-Tony-Blairs-millions.html |archive-date=5 August 2018 |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=The Daily Telegraph}}{{Cite web |title=The Wonderful World of Tony Blair |url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-102/episode-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029195818/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-102/episode-1 |archive-date=29 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014 |publisher=Channel 4}} and a number of prominent critics have even called for him to be sacked.{{Cite news |date=24 June 2014 |title=An appeal to the Quartet on the Middle East to sack Tony Blair |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/24/appeal-to-quartet-on-middle-east-sack-tony-blair |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701141551/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/24/appeal-to-quartet-on-middle-east-sack-tony-blair |archive-date=1 July 2014 |access-date=2 July 2014 |work=The Guardian}} Blair has used his Quartet Tony Blair Associates works with the Kazakhstan government, advising the regime on judicial, economic and political reforms, but has been subject to criticism after accusations of "whitewashing" the image and human rights record of the regime.{{Cite news |last1=Kerbaj |first1=Richard |author-link1=Richard Kerbaj |last2=Ungoed-Thomas |first2=Jon |last3=Fortson |first3=Danny |date=23 September 2012 |title=Blair in £16m deal with Kazakhs |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/People/article1132117.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921063513/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/People/article1132117.ece |archive-date=21 September 2013 |access-date=24 September 2012 |work=The Sunday Times}}
Blair responded to such criticism by saying his choice to advise the country is an example of how he can "nudge controversial figures on a progressive path of reform", and has stated that he receives no personal profit from this advisory role.{{Cite news |last=Nicholas |first=Watts |date=30 June 2013 |title=How Tony Blair paved way for first visit by serving British PM to Kazakhstan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/30/tony-blair-pave-way-kazakhstan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911034317/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/30/tony-blair-pave-way-kazakhstan |archive-date=11 September 2013 |access-date=7 September 2013 |work=The Guardian}} The Kazakhstan foreign minister said that the country was "honoured and privileged" to be receiving advice from Blair.{{Cite web |last=Watt |first=Nicholas |date=30 June 2013 |title=Kazakhstan praises Cameron and Blair for helping improving country's image |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/30/kazakhstan-cameron-blair-human-rights |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911034322/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/30/kazakhstan-cameron-blair-human-rights |archive-date=11 September 2013 |access-date=1 July 2013 |website=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |last=Swinford |first=Steven |date=30 June 2013 |title=Oil-rich Kazakhstan dictatorship boasts of British support |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10150976/Oil-rich-Kazakhstan-dictatorship-boasts-of-British-support.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703101947/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10150976/Oil-rich-Kazakhstan-dictatorship-boasts-of-British-support.html |archive-date=3 July 2013 |access-date=1 July 2013 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} A letter obtained by The Daily Telegraph in August 2014 revealed Blair had given damage-limitation advice to Nursultan Nazarbayev after the December 2011 Zhanaozen massacre.{{Cite news |last=Mendick |first=Robert |date=24 August 2014 |title=Tony Blair gives Kazakhstan's autocratic president tips on how to defend a massacre |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11052965/Tony-Blair-gives-Kazakhstans-autocratic-president-tips-on-how-to-defend-a-massacre.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824214207/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11052965/Tony-Blair-gives-Kazakhstans-autocratic-president-tips-on-how-to-defend-a-massacre.html |archive-date=24 August 2014 |access-date=24 August 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} Blair was reported to have accepted a business advisory role with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, a situation deemed incompatible with his role as Middle East envoy. Blair described the report as "nonsense".{{Cite news |last=Milne |first=Seumas |author-link=Seumas Milne |date=2 July 2014 |title=Tony Blair to advise Egypt president Sisi on economic reform |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/02/tony-blair-advise-egypt-president-sisi-economic-reform |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702220407/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/02/tony-blair-advise-egypt-president-sisi-economic-reform |archive-date=2 July 2014 |access-date=2 July 2014 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |date=3 July 2014 |title=Tony Blair denies he signed on as Egyptian president's adviser |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.602689 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702232348/http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.602689 |archive-date=2 July 2014 |access-date=3 July 2014 |work=Haaretz}}
= Charity and non-profits =
In November 2007 Blair launched the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, 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."{{Cite web |title=Tony Blair Sports Foundation |url=http://tonyblairsportsfoundation.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173239/http://www.tonyblairsportsfoundation.org/ |archive-date=26 November 2009 |access-date=20 April 2010 |publisher=Tony Blair Sports Foundation}} On 30 May 2008, Blair launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a vehicle for encouraging different faiths to join 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". "The Foundation will use its profile and resources to encourage people of faith to work together more closely to tackle global poverty and conflict", says its mission statement.{{Cite web |date=9 September 2009 |title=Tony Blair's Faith Foundation speech |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-god-blog/2009/09/faith-foundation-blair-speech |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912045542/http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-god-blog/2009/09/faith-foundation-blair-speech |archive-date=12 September 2009 |access-date=20 April 2010 |website=New Statesman}}
In February 2009 he applied to set up a charity called the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative: the application was approved in November 2009.{{Cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=David |last2=Griffiths |first2=Ian |date=1 December 2009 |title=The mystery of Tony Blair's finances |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/dec/01/mystery-tony-blair-finances |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805015004/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/dec/01/mystery-tony-blair-finances |archive-date=5 August 2013 |access-date=1 December 2009 |work=The Guardian |location=London}} Blair's foundation hit controversy in October 2012, when news emerged that it was taking on unpaid interns.{{Cite news |last=Ensor |first=Josie |date=12 July 2011 |title=Tony Blair comes under fire for hiring unpaid interns |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8630526/Tony-Blair-comes-under-fire-for-hiring-unpaid-interns.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029203653/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8630526/Tony-Blair-comes-under-fire-for-hiring-unpaid-interns.html |archive-date=29 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}
File:Volodymyr Groysman and Tony Blair in Ukraine - 2018 (MUS7631).jpg in Ukraine, 2018]]
In December 2016, Blair created the Tony Blair Institute to promote global outlooks by governments and organisations.{{Cite news |date=1 December 2016 |title=Tony Blair announces foundation to tackle Brexit challenges |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-institute-brexit-new-policy-unit-europe-centre-ground-agenda-a7449756.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215000905/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-institute-brexit-new-policy-unit-europe-centre-ground-agenda-a7449756.html |archive-date=15 December 2017 |access-date=14 December 2017 |work=The Independent}}{{Cite news |date=1 December 2016 |title=Blair institute 'to give thought leadership' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38167749 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221183940/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38167749 |archive-date=21 December 2017 |access-date=14 December 2017 |work=BBC News}} In September 2023 former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin joined him as a strategic adviser on political leaders' reform programmes in the institute.{{Cite news |date=8 September 2023 |title=Sanna Marin's post at Tony Blair Institute draws criticism, praise |url=https://yle.fi/a/74-20049251 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118182356/https://yle.fi/a/74-20049251 |archive-date=18 November 2023 |access-date=13 November 2023}}
= Books =
==''A Journey''==
{{main|A Journey (memoir)}}
In March 2010, it was reported that Blair's memoirs, titled The Journey, would be published in September 2010.{{Cite news |date=4 March 2010 |title='Frank' Blair Memoirs Out in September |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/frank-blair-memoirs-out-september.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310053039/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/114227-page.html |archive-date=10 March 2010 |access-date=16 August 2010 |work=The Bookseller |location=London}}{{Cite web |last=Grice |first=Andrew |date=5 March 2010 |title=The £4.6m question: Is Tony Blair's 'Journey' worth the advance? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-pound-4-6m-question-is-tony-blair-s-journey-worth-the-advance-1916505.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240212174442/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-pound-4-6m-question-is-tony-blair-s-journey-worth-the-advance-1916505.html |archive-date=12 February 2024 |access-date=12 February 2024 |website=The Independent}} In July 2010 it was announced the memoirs would be retitled A Journey.{{Cite news |last=Booth |first=Robert |date=12 July 2010 |title=Tony Blair's memoirs title change strikes a less 'messianic' tone |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jul/12/tony-blair-book-title-change |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715082654/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/12/tony-blair-book-title-change |archive-date=15 July 2010 |access-date=12 February 2024 |work=The Guardian}} The memoirs were seen by many as controversial and a further attempt to profit from his office and from acts related to overseas wars that were widely seen as wrong,{{Cite news |last1=Prince |first1=Rosa |last2=Gammell |first2=Caroline |last3=Evans |first3=Martin |date=16 August 2010 |title=Questions over size of Tony Blair's book royalty donation to Royal British Legion |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/7949199/Questions-over-size-of-Tony-Blairs-book-royalty-donation-to-Royal-British-Legion.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701153208/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/7949199/Questions-over-size-of-Tony-Blairs-book-royalty-donation-to-Royal-British-Legion.html |archive-date=1 July 2018 |access-date=3 April 2018 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London, UK}}{{Cite news |date=5 March 2010 |title=Tony Blair's Journey memoirs' £5m fee provokes 'cashing in' claims |url=http://metro.co.uk/2010/03/05/tony-blairs-journey-memoirs-5m-fee-provokes-cashing-in-claims-158502 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514185302/http://metro.co.uk/2010/03/05/tony-blairs-journey-memoirs-5m-fee-provokes-cashing-in-claims-158502/ |archive-date=14 May 2013 |access-date=8 May 2013 |work=Metro}} leading to anger and suspicion prior to launch.
On 16 August 2010 it was announced that Blair would give the £4.6 million advance and all royalties from his memoirs to the Royal British Legion – the charity's largest ever single donation.{{Cite news |last1=Webster |first1=Philip |last2=Jagger |first2=Suzy |last3=Coates |first3=Sam |last4=Low |first4=Valentine |date=17 August 2010 |title=Tony Blair tries to turn page with £5m donation from sale of memoirs to Royal British Legion |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/tony-blair-tries-to-turn-page-with-5m-donation-from-sale-of-memoirs-to-royal-british-legion/story-e6frg6so-1225906203313 |work=The Australian}}{{Cite news |date=16 August 2010 |title=Tony Blair donates book cash to injured soldier charity |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10988478 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816190045/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10988478 |archive-date=16 August 2010 |access-date=16 August 2010 |work=BBC News}}
Media analysis of the sudden announcement was wide-ranging, describing it as an act of "desperation" to obtain a better launch reception of a humiliating "publishing flop" that had languished in the ratings, "blood money" for the lives lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, an act with a "hidden motive" or an expression of "guilt", a "genius move" to address the problem that "Tony Blair ha[d] one of the most toxic brands around" from a PR perspective, and a "cynical stunt to wipe the slate", but also as an attempt to make amends.{{Cite news |date=22 August 2010 |title=Tony Blair's memoirs: The making of a best-seller |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/7958042/Tony-Blairs-memoirs-The-making-of-a-best-seller.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025135128/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/7958042/Tony-Blairs-memoirs-The-making-of-a-best-seller.html |archive-date=25 October 2017 |access-date=3 April 2018 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London, UK}} Friends had said that the act was partly motivated by the wish to "repair his reputation".
The book was published on 1 September and within hours of its launch had become the fastest-selling autobiography of all time.{{Cite news |last=Grice |first=Andrew |date=2 September 2010 |title=Blair's memoirs: From No10 to No1 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blairs-memoirs-from-no10-to-no1-2068147.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100904052054/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blairs-memoirs-from-no10-to-no1-2068147.html |archive-date=4 September 2010 |access-date=3 September 2010 |work=The Independent |publisher=Independent Newspapers Ltd |location=London}} On 3 September Blair gave his first live interview since publication on The Late Late Show in Ireland, with protesters lying in wait there for him.{{Cite web |last=O'Carroll |first=Lisa |date=4 September 2010 |title=Tony Blair interview greeted by Iraq war protesters and Jedward fans |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/04/tony-blair-jedward-ireland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223214812/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/04/tony-blair-jedward-ireland |archive-date=23 February 2017 |access-date=31 January 2024 |website=The Guardian}} On 4 September, Blair was confronted by 200 anti-war and hardline Irish nationalist demonstrators before the first book signing of his memoirs at Eason's bookstore on O'Connell Street in Dublin, with angry activists chanting "war criminal" and that he had "blood on his hands", and clashing with Irish Police (Garda Síochána) as they tried to break through a security cordon outside the Eason's store. Blair was pelted with eggs and shoes, and encountered an attempted citizen's arrest for war crimes.{{Cite web |title=Shoes and eggs thrown at Tony Blair as he attends book signing |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/tony-blair/7981878/Shoes-and-eggs-thrown-at-Tony-Blair-as-he-attends-book-signing.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100907025509/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/tony-blair/7981878/Shoes-and-eggs-thrown-at-Tony-Blair-as-he-attends-book-signing.html |archive-date=7 September 2010 |website=The Daily Telegraph}}
==''On Leadership''==
Published in 2024, and described by George Osborne as "the most practically useful guide to politics I have ever read."{{Cite web |last=Osborne |first=George |date=6 September 2024 |title=On Leadership by Tony Blair — things should only get better |url=https://www.ft.com/content/2b0fa39c-d03d-4f6b-9fba-63308e6025ee |url-access=subscription |access-date=2 October 2024 |website=Financial Times}}
= Accusations of war crimes =
File:MSC 2014 Blair Kissinger Kleinschmidt MSC2014.jpg at the Munich Security Conference in 2014]]
Since the Iraq War, Blair has been the subject of war crimes accusations. Critics of his actions, including Bishop Desmond Tutu,{{Cite web |last=Helm |first=Toby |date=2 September 2012 |title=Tony Blair should face trial over Iraq war, says Desmond Tutu |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/02/tony-blair-iraq-war-desmond-tutu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022201225/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/02/tony-blair-iraq-war-desmond-tutu |archive-date=22 October 2013 |access-date=3 September 2012 |website=The Observer}} Harold Pinter{{Cite news |date=7 December 2005 |title=Pinter demands war crimes trial for Blair |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/07/iraq.booksnews |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829204452/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/07/iraq.booksnews |archive-date=29 August 2013 |access-date=3 September 2012 |work=BBC News}} and Arundhati Roy{{Cite web |date=3 November 2004 |title=Writer says Bush, Blair war criminals |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Writer-says-Bush-Blair-war-criminals/2004/11/03/1099362221091.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616062159/http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Writer-says-Bush-Blair-war-criminals/2004/11/03/1099362221091.html |archive-date=16 June 2014 |access-date=3 September 2012 |website=The Age}} have called for his trial at the International Criminal Court.
In November 2011, a war crimes tribunal of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, established by Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, reached a unanimous conclusion that Blair was guilty of crimes against peace, as a result of his role in the Iraq War.{{Cite news |date=15 November 2011 |title=Symbolic 'war crimes' tribunal to try Bush, Blair |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501712_162-57324770/symbolic-war-crimes-tribunal-to-try-bush-blair |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101115154/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501712_162-57324770/symbolic-war-crimes-tribunal-to-try-bush-blair |archive-date=1 January 2012 |work=CBS News}} The proceedings lasted for four days, and consisted of five judges of judicial and academic backgrounds, a tribunal-appointed defence team in lieu of the defendants or representatives, and a prosecution team including international law professor Francis Boyle.{{Cite web |last=Falk |first=Richard |date=20 November 2011 |title=Kuala Lumpur tribunal: Bush and Blair guilty |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111128105712109215.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223235537/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111128105712109215.html |archive-date=23 December 2011 |publisher=Al Jazeera}}
In September 2012, Desmond Tutu suggested that Blair should follow the path of former African leaders who had been brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The human rights lawyer Geoffrey Bindman concurred with Tutu's suggestion that there should be a war crimes trial.{{Cite news |date=2 September 2012 |title=Desmond Tutu calls for Blair and Bush to be tried over Iraq |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19454562 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102133206/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19454562 |archive-date=2 November 2017 |access-date=3 September 2012 |work=BBC News}} In a statement made in response to Tutu's comments, Blair defended his actions. He was supported by Lord Falconer, who stated that the war had been authorised by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441.
In July 2017, former Iraqi general Abdulwaheed al-Rabbat launched a private war crimes prosecution in the High Court in London, asking for Blair, former foreign secretary Jack Straw and former attorney general Lord Goldsmith to be prosecuted for "the crime of aggression" for their role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The High Court ruled that, although the crime of aggression was recognised in international law, it was not an offence under UK law, and therefore the prosecution could not proceed.{{Cite news |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |date=31 July 2017 |title=Tony Blair prosecution over Iraq war blocked by judges |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/31/tony-blair-prosecution-over-iraq-war-blocked-by-judges |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910225402/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/31/tony-blair-prosecution-over-iraq-war-blocked-by-judges |archive-date=10 September 2020 |access-date=16 September 2020 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |last=Osborne |first=Samuel |date=31 July 2017 |title=High Court rules Tony Blair can't be prosecuted for Iraq war |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tony-blair-iraq-war-high-court-bid-prosecute-family-soldiers-killed-relatives-a7868451.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109032754/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tony-blair-iraq-war-high-court-bid-prosecute-family-soldiers-killed-relatives-a7868451.html |archive-date=9 November 2020 |access-date=16 September 2020 |work=The Independent}}{{Cite news |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |date=5 July 2017 |title=Tony Blair should be prosecuted over Iraq war, high court hears |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/05/tony-blair-should-be-prosecuted-over-iraq-war-high-court-hears |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731005955/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/05/tony-blair-should-be-prosecuted-over-iraq-war-high-court-hears |archive-date=31 July 2017 |access-date=31 July 2017 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |date=31 July 2017 |title=Iraq War: Bid to prosecute Tony Blair rejected by High Court |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40775725 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017213036/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40775725 |archive-date=17 October 2018 |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=BBC News}}
== Blair defended ==
Some, such as John Rentoul, John McTernan, Geoffrey Robertson and Iain Dale, have countered accusations that Blair committed war crimes during his premiership, often highlighting how no case against Blair has ever made it to trial, suggesting that Blair broke no laws.{{Cite web |last=Dale |first=Iain |author-link=Iain Dale |date=20 March 2023 |title=On the 20th anniversary of UK |work=X (formerly Twitter) |url=https://mobile.twitter.com/LBC/status/1637937653747163137 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408001047/https://mobile.twitter.com/LBC/status/1637937653747163137 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |access-date=8 April 2023 |via=Twitter}}{{Cite web |last=Rentoul |first=John |author-link=John Rentoul |date=5 July 2016 |title=Let's have a serious debate about Chilcot, and stop claiming Blair is a war criminal |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/lets-have-serious-debate-about-chilcot-and-stop-claiming-blair-war-criminal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131021622/https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/lets-have-serious-debate-about-chilcot-and-stop-claiming-blair-war-criminal |archive-date=31 January 2024 |access-date=31 January 2024 |website=Middle East Eye}}{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Robertson |date=5 July 2016 |title=Putting Tony Blair in the dock is a fantasy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/05/tony-blair-in-the-dock-fantasy-wars-aggression |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706163918/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/05/tony-blair-in-the-dock-fantasy-wars-aggression |archive-date=6 July 2016 |access-date=17 July 2024 |website=The Guardian}}{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}}
Blair himself has defended his involvement in the Iraq War by highlighting the findings of the Iraq Survey Group, which found that Saddam had attempted to get sanctions lifted by undermining them, which would have enabled him to restart his WMD program.{{Cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=6 June 2016 |title=Tony Blair unrepentant as Chilcot gives crushing Iraq war verdict |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404170848/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war |archive-date=4 April 2023 |access-date=8 April 2023 |work=The Guardian}}
= Political interventions and views =
File:2024-07-22 Audiência entre Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva e Tony Blair, 15.jpg at the Palácio do Planalto in Brasilia in 2024]]
== Response to the Iraq Inquiry ==
{{further|Findings of the Iraq Inquiry}}
The Chilcot report issued after the conclusion of the Iraq Inquiry was published on 6 July 2016; it criticised Blair for joining the US in the war in Iraq in 2003. Afterward, Blair issued a statement and held a two-hour press conference to apologise, to justify the decisions he had made in 2003 "in good faith" and to deny allegations that the war had led to a significant increase in terrorism.{{Cite news |last=Mason |first=Rowena |date=6 July 2016 |title=Tony Blair: 'I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you can ever believe' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/tony-blair-deliberately-exaggerated-threat-from-iraq-chilcot-report-war-inquiry |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706144112/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/tony-blair-deliberately-exaggerated-threat-from-iraq-chilcot-report-war-inquiry |archive-date=6 July 2016 |access-date=7 July 2016 |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK}} He acknowledged that the report made "real and material criticisms of preparation, planning, process and of the relationship with the United States" but cited sections of the report that he said "should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit". He stated: "whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein; I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be the best interests of the country. ... I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse. I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world".{{Cite news |last=Cowburn |first=Ashley |date=6 July 2016 |title=Chilcot report: Tony Blair claims findings show he did not lie over Iraq War |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chilcot-report-tony-blair-findings-lie-iraq-war-saddam-hussein-dodgy-dossier-inquiry-latest-a7122611.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011212649/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chilcot-report-tony-blair-findings-lie-iraq-war-saddam-hussein-dodgy-dossier-inquiry-latest-a7122611.html |archive-date=11 October 2017 |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=The Independent}}{{Cite news |date=6 July 2016 |title=Statement from Tony Blair on Chilcot Report |url=http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/statement-from-tony-blair-on-chilcot-report/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706182456/http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/statement-from-tony-blair-on-chilcot-report/ |archive-date=6 July 2016 |publisher=Office of Tony Blair}}
File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Blair (48307371432).jpg at the US Department of State in Washington, D.C., 2019]]
== Iran–West tensions ==
{{See also|Iran–United States relations|Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict}}
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on 8 February 2019, Blair said: "Where Iran is exercising military interference, it should be strongly pushed back. Where it is seeking influence, it should be countered. Where its proxies operate, it should be held responsible. Where its networks exist, they should be disrupted. Where its leaders are saying what is unacceptable, they should be exposed. Where the Iranian people — highly educated and connected, despite their government — are protesting for freedom, they should be supported."{{Cite news |last=Blair |first=Tony |date=8 February 2019 |title=Don't make the mistake of dismissing Iran's ideology |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/08/dont-make-mistake-dismissing-irans-ideology/?noredirect=on |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111024715/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/08/dont-make-mistake-dismissing-irans-ideology/?noredirect=on |archive-date=11 November 2022 |access-date=6 August 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warned of a growing Iranian threat.{{Cite news |last=Peachey |first=Paul |date=11 February 2019 |title=Tony Blair Institute: West has not learned lessons of Iran |url=https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/tony-blair-institute-west-has-not-learned-lessons-of-iran-1.824052 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806094341/https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/tony-blair-institute-west-has-not-learned-lessons-of-iran-1.824052 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |access-date=6 August 2019 |work=The National}} The Tony Blair Institute confirmed that it has received donations from the U.S. State Department and Saudi Arabia.{{Cite news |date=5 September 2018 |title=Tony Blair Institute confirms donations from Saudi Arabia |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6426466c-b12c-11e8-99ca-68cf89602132 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806094343/https://www.ft.com/content/6426466c-b12c-11e8-99ca-68cf89602132 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |access-date=6 August 2019 |work=Financial Times}}{{subscription required}}{{Cite news |last=Malnick |first=Edward |date=21 July 2018 |title=Tony Blair is advising the Saudi government under a £9 million deal between the country and his 'institute' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/21/tony-blair-advising-saudi-government-9-million-deal-country/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004071415/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/21/tony-blair-advising-saudi-government-9-million-deal-country/ |archive-date=4 October 2019 |access-date=6 August 2019 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}
== European Union ==
Blair did not want the UK to leave the EU and called for a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Blair also maintained that once the terms deciding how the UK leaves the EU were known, the people should be able to vote again on those terms. Blair stated, "We know the options for Brexit. Parliament will have to decide on one of them. If Parliament can't then it should decide to go back to the people."{{Cite web |date=14 December 2018 |title=Tony Blair: Britain and EU should prepare for second Brexit referendum |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/news/tony-blair-britain-and-eu-should-prepare-for-second-brexit-referendum/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216163656/https://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/news/tony-blair-britain-and-eu-should-prepare-for-second-brexit-referendum/ |archive-date=16 December 2018 |access-date=16 December 2018 |website=Euractiv}}
However, after the 2019 general election in which the pro-withdrawal Conservative party won a sizeable majority of seats, Blair argued that remain supporters should "face up to one simple point: we lost" and "pivot to a completely new position...We're going to have to be constructive about it and see how Britain develops a constructive relationship with Europe and finds its new niche in the world."{{Cite web |last=Ferber |first=Alona |date=30 January 2020 |title=Tony Blair: Remainers must accept they lost and now be constructive over Brexit |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/01/tony-blair-remainers-must-accept-they-lost-and-now-be-constructive-over-brexit |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805174507/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/01/tony-blair-remainers-must-accept-they-lost-and-now-be-constructive-over-brexit |archive-date=5 August 2020 |access-date=26 August 2020 |website=New Statesman}}
== American power ==
Blair was interviewed in June 2020 for an article in the American magazine The Atlantic on European views of U.S. foreign policy concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession, the rise of China, and the George Floyd protests. He affirmed his belief in the continued strength of American soft power and the need to address Iranian military aggression, European military underinvestment, and illicit Chinese trade practices. He said, however, "I think it's fair to say a lot of political leaders in Europe are dismayed by what they see as the isolationism growing in America and the seeming indifference to alliances. But I think there will come a time when America decides in its own interest to reengage, so I'm optimistic that America will in the end understand that this is not about relegating your self-interest behind the common interest; it's an understanding that by acting collectively in alliance with others you promote your own interests." Blair warned that structural issues plaguing American domestic policy needed to be addressed imminently.{{Cite web |last=McTague |first=Tom |date=24 June 2020 |title=The Decline of the American World |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/america-image-power-trump/613228/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624082249/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/america-image-power-trump/613228/ |archive-date=24 June 2020 |access-date=24 June 2020 |website=The Atlantic}}
In August 2021, Blair criticised the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan, saying that it was "in obedience to an imbecilic slogan about ending 'the forever wars{{'"}}. Blair admitted mistakes in the management of the war but warned that "the reaction to our mistakes has been, unfortunately, further mistakes".{{Cite news |last1=Bowden |first1=George |last2=Lauren Turner |name-list-style=& |date=22 August 2021 |title=Afghanistan: Blair calls US withdrawal tragic and unnecessary |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58295384 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822002713/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58295384 |archive-date=22 August 2021 |access-date=22 August 2021 |work=BBC News}}
== Labour Party ==
=== Jeremy Corbyn ===
Blair was a critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, seeing it as too left-wing. He wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian during the party's 2015 leadership election that if the party elected Corbyn, it would face a "rout, possibly annihilation" at the next election.{{Cite web |last=Blair |first=Tony |date=13 August 2015 |title=Tony Blair: Even if you hate me, please don't take Labour over the cliff edge |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/12/even-if-hate-me-dont-take-labour-over-cliff-edge-tony-blair |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915110519/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/12/even-if-hate-me-dont-take-labour-over-cliff-edge-tony-blair |archive-date=15 September 2021 |access-date=16 September 2021 |website=The Guardian}} After the 2019 general election, Blair accused Corbyn of turning the party into a "glorified protest movement" and in a May 2021 New Statesman article, Blair suggested that the party needed to undergo a programme of "total deconstruction and reconstruction" and also said the party needed to shift to the centre on social issues in order to survive.{{Cite news |last=Syal |first=Rajeev |date=18 December 2019 |title=Ditch Corbyn's 'misguided ideology', Tony Blair urges Labour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/18/tony-blair-urges-labour-to-ditch-jeremy-corbyn-misguided-ideology |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201856/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/18/tony-blair-urges-labour-to-ditch-jeremy-corbyn-misguided-ideology |archive-date=24 June 2021 |access-date=20 June 2021 |work=The Guardian}} Blair touched on controversial topics such as transgender rights, the Black Lives Matter movement and climate change.{{Cite news |title=Tony Blair: Without total change Labour will die |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/05/tony-blair-without-total-change-labour-will-die |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200901/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/05/tony-blair-without-total-change-labour-will-die |archive-date=24 June 2021 |access-date=20 June 2021 |work=New Statesman}}{{Cite news |last=Courea |first=Eleni |date=12 May 2021 |title=Tony Blair: Labour 'needs deconstruction and reconstruction' |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/blair-labour-needs-deconstruction-and-reconstruction-0kq766zdt |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204044/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blair-labour-needs-deconstruction-and-reconstruction-0kq766zdt |archive-date=24 June 2021 |access-date=20 June 2021 |work=The Times}}{{Cite news |last=Cowburn |first=Ashley |date=12 May 2021 |title=Labour Party needs 'total deconstruction and reconstruction' to revive, Tony Blair says |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-gmb-labour-starmer-b1846082.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624212632/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-gmb-labour-starmer-b1846082.html |archive-date=24 June 2021 |access-date=20 June 2021 |work=The Independent}}
=== Keir Starmer ===
Keir Starmer's leadership of the party has been widely compared to Blair's leadership and New Labour, having taken the party rightward to gain electability. Initially saying in 2021 that Starmer lacked a compelling message, Blair has since reacted more positively towards Starmer's leadership of the party, telling him he's "done a great job" in reforming the party during a Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain conference in 2023.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-18 |title=Tony Blair Tells Keir Starmer He's Done An 'Amazing Job' In Saving Labour From 'Extinction' |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tony-blair-praises-amazing-keir-starmer_uk_64b6e3f2e4b08cd259d90af6 |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=HuffPost UK |language=en}} Blair's continued influence on the party, and on Starmer led him to be ranked sixteenth in the New Statesman's Left Power List 2023, described by the paper as electorally an "incomparable authority on how to win".{{Cite web |last=Statesman |first=New |date=2023-05-17 |title=The New Statesman's left power list |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2023/05/the-new-statesmans-left-power-list |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115165413/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2023/05/the-new-statesmans-left-power-list |archive-date=15 November 2023 |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}} After Labour won the 2024 general election and Starmer became prime minister, Blair congratulated him on his victory, saying Starmer was "determined and ruthlessly effective" and appointed "exceptional talent to conduct the change and put the most capable frontbenchers in the most important positions for future government." He also offered Starmer advice, recommending he controls immigration amid the rise of the Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage, saying that the party poses a threat to Labour and not just the Conservatives.{{Cite web |last=Blair |first=Tony |date=2024-07-07 |title=Tony Blair: My advice to Keir Starmer |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tony-blair-my-advice-to-keir-starmer-j0zlmzwr3 |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}
Personal life
= Family =
File:Tony Blair in the Amber Room.jpg, touring the recreated Amber Room during a visit to the Catherine Palace in Russia, 2003]]
Blair married Cherie Booth on 29 March 1980.{{Cite web |title=Cherie celebrates her 30th Wedding Anniversary this spring |url=http://www.cherieblair.org/highlights/2010/03/my-memory-is-not-infallible.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324153448/http://www.cherieblair.org/highlights/2010/03/my-memory-is-not-infallible.html |archive-date=24 March 2010 |access-date=4 November 2010 |publisher=Cherie Blair}} They have four children: Euan, Nicky, Kathryn, and Leo.{{Cite web |title=Facts: Life and times of Tony Blair |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/10/blair.facts/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020050012/http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/10/blair.facts/index.html |archive-date=20 October 2013 |publisher=CNN}} 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.{{Cite news |date=20 May 2000 |title=Welcome distraction for Tony Blair |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/756400.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117211333/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/756400.stm |archive-date=17 November 2006 |access-date=13 July 2010 |work=BBC News}} All four children have Irish passports, by virtue of Blair's mother, Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscadden (12 June 1923{{spaced ndash}}28 June 1975).{{Cite news |last=Mcdonagh |first=Melanie |date=13 September 2009 |title=Names that mean trouble |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/article6832096.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728111942/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/article6832096.ece |archive-date=28 July 2011 |work=The Sunday Times |location=London}} The family's primary residence is in Connaught Square; the Blairs own eight residences in total.{{Cite news |last=Rayner |first=Gordon |date=7 February 2014 |title=Euan Blair's mother, not his wife, is partner in marital home |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10625622/Euan-Blairs-mother-not-his-wife-is-partner-in-marital-home.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209152412/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10625622/Euan-Blairs-mother-not-his-wife-is-partner-in-marital-home.html |archive-date=9 February 2014 |access-date=14 February 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} His first grandchild (a girl) was born in October 2016.{{Cite news |last=Blair |first=Cherie |author-link=Cherie Blair |date=27 October 2016 |title=Equality between men and women is still 170 years away |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/world-economic-forum-gender-equality-170-years-away-a7383601.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028141207/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/world-economic-forum-gender-equality-170-years-away-a7383601.html |archive-date=28 October 2016 |access-date=28 October 2016 |work=The Independent |quote=Last week Tony and I were delighted to welcome our first grandchild into the family.}}
= Wealth =
Blair's financial assets are structured in an opaque manner, and estimates of their extent vary widely.{{Cite news |last=Mendick |first=Robert |date=7 January 2012 |title=Blair Inc: How Tony Blair makes his fortune |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8999847/Blair-Inc-How-Tony-Blair-makes-his-fortune.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516233429/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8999847/Blair-Inc-How-Tony-Blair-makes-his-fortune.html |archive-date=16 May 2018 |access-date=27 November 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} These include figures of up to £100 million. Blair stated in 2014 that he was worth "less than £20 million".{{Cite news |date=21 July 2014 |title=Tony Blair: I'm worth less than £20 million, and I'm not interested in making money |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10981122/Tony-Blair-Im-worth-less-than-20-million-and-Im-not-interested-in-making-money.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013221218/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10981122/Tony-Blair-Im-worth-less-than-20-million-and-Im-not-interested-in-making-money.html |archive-date=13 October 2017 |access-date=26 November 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} A 2015 assertion, by Francis Beckett, David Hencke and Nick Kochan, concluded that Blair had acquired $90 million and a property portfolio worth $37.5 million in the eight years since he had left office.{{Cite news |date=8 March 2015 |title=New book reveals how MidEast helped Tony Blair earn $90m |url=http://www.arabianbusiness.com/new-book-reveals-how-mideast-helped-tony-blair-earn-90m-584832.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309102443/http://www.arabianbusiness.com/new-book-reveals-how-mideast-helped-tony-blair-earn-90m-584832.html |archive-date=9 March 2015 |access-date=19 January 2016 |work=Arabian Business}}
In October 2021, Blair was named in the Pandora Papers.{{Cite news |date=4 October 2021 |title=Pandora Papers: Tony and Cherie Blair avoided paying £312,000 in tax on London property by acquiring offshore firm |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pandora-papers-blair-stamp-duty-b1931531.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004080411/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pandora-papers-blair-stamp-duty-b1931531.html |archive-date=4 October 2021 |access-date=4 October 2021 |work=The Independent}}
= Religious faith =
In 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: "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."{{Cite news |date=3 March 2006 |title=Blair 'prayed to God' over Iraq |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4772142.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928202606/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4772142.stm |archive-date=28 September 2006 |access-date=18 November 2006 |work=BBC News}}
According to Press Secretary Alastair Campbell's diary, Blair often read the Bible before taking any important decisions. He states that Blair had a "wobble" and considered changing his mind on the eve of the bombing of Iraq in 1998.{{Cite web |last=Watt |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Watt |date=14 January 2011 |title=Alastair Campbell diaries: How Blair's Bible reading prompted Iraq 'wobble' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/jan/14/tony-blair-alastair-campbell-diaries |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405161403/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/jan/14/tony-blair-alastair-campbell-diaries |archive-date=5 April 2016 |website=The Guardian}}
A longer exploration of his faith can be found in an interview with Third Way Magazine. There he says 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".{{Cite web |last=McCloughry |first=Roy |date=14 September 1993 |title=Practising for Power: Tony Blair |url=http://www.thirdway.org.uk/past/showpage.asp?page=43 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927142102/http://www.thirdway.org.uk/past/showpage.asp?page=43 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=22 November 2007 |website=Third Way Magazine: the modern world through Christian eyes |quote=Since 1993, Third Way has been talking in depth to men and women who help to shape our society or set the tone of our culture. We spoke to Tony Blair on 14 September 1993, before the spin doctors closed around him, when he was still shadow Home Secretary and had a full head of hair.}}
At one point Alastair Campbell intervened in an interview, preventing Blair from answering a question about his Christianity, explaining, "We don't do God."{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Colin |date=3 May 2003 |title=Campbell interrupted Blair as he spoke of his faith: 'We don't do God' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1429109/Campbell-interrupted-Blair-as-he-spoke-of-his-faith-We-dont-do-God.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327145146/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1429109/Campbell-interrupted-Blair-as-he-spoke-of-his-faith-We-dont-do-God.html |archive-date=27 March 2009 |access-date=28 February 2009 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK}} Campbell later said that he had intervened only to end the interview because the journalist had been taking an excessive time, and that the comment had just been a throwaway line.{{Cite news |date=9 November 2008 |title=The Catherine Deveney Interview: Alastair Campbell: Most people don't know me |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/catherine-deveney-interview-alastair-campbell-1-1301006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510020238/http://www.scotsman.com/news/catherine-deveney-interview-alastair-campbell-1-1301006 |archive-date=10 May 2013 |access-date=28 March 2013 |work=Scotland on Sunday}}
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".{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Cohen |date=8 December 2002 |title=Ev'rybody must get stones |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/dec/08/cherieblair.labour1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231227145133/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/dec/08/cherieblair.labour1 |archive-date=27 December 2023 |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=The Observer}} 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, which involved smearing mud and fruit over each other's bodies while sitting in a steam bath.How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World, Francis Wheen, Harper Perennial 2004; {{ISBN|0-00-714097-5}}
In 1996, Blair, then an Anglican, was reprimanded by Cardinal Basil Hume for receiving Holy Communion while attending Mass at Cherie Blair's Catholic church, in contravention of canon law.{{Cite news |last=Chancellor |first=Alexander |date=18 May 2007 |title=Blair doesn't need intermediaries to communicate with God. So why does he want to become a Catholic? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,2082533,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225120207/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/may/18/comment.politics |archive-date=25 February 2024 |access-date=22 November 2007 |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK}} On 22 December 2007, it was disclosed that Blair had joined the Catholic Church. The move was described as "a private matter".{{Cite news |date=22 December 2007 |title=Tony Blair joins Catholic faith |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157409.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224010821/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157409.stm |archive-date=24 December 2007 |access-date=22 November 2007 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite news |date=22 December 2007 |title=Blair Converts To Catholicism |url=http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1298177,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628012658/http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0%2C%2C30100%2D1298177%2C00.html |archive-date=28 June 2009 |access-date=22 November 2007 |publisher=Sky News}} He had informed Pope Benedict XVI on 23 June 2007 — four days before he stepped down as Prime Minister — that he wanted to become a Catholic. The Pope and his advisors criticised some of Blair's political actions, but followed up with a reportedly unprecedented red carpet welcome, which included the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who would be responsible for Blair's Catholic instruction.{{Cite news |last1=Gledhill |first1=Ruth |last2=Austin |first2=Jeremy |last3=Webster |first3=Philip |date=17 May 2007 |title=Blair will be welcomed into Catholic fold via his 'baptism of desire' |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1801237.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725113115/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1801237.ece |archive-date=25 July 2008 |access-date=22 November 2007 |work=The Times |location=UK}} In 2009, Blair questioned the Pope's attitude towards homosexuality, arguing that religious leaders must start "rethinking" the issue.{{Cite news |date=8 April 2009 |title=Blair questions Papal gay policy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7987566.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728133756/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7987566.stm |archive-date=28 July 2012 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=BBC News}} In 2010, The Tablet named him as one of Britain's most influential Catholics.{{Cite web |date=11 September 2010 |title=100 Top Catholics |url=http://www.thetablet.co.uk/pdf/4283/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919154647/http://www.thetablet.co.uk/pdf/4283 |archive-date=19 September 2010 |access-date=29 March 2021 |website=The Tablet}}
Honours
File:Coat of arms of Sir Tony Blair.svg
File:Blair MOF.jpg by President Bush in 2009]]
File:Tony Blair in Kosovo with children named after him2.jpg, 2010]]
- United Kingdom: Privy Counsellor (1994)
- United States: Congressional Gold Medal (2003)
- United Kingdom: Honorary Doctor of Law (LLD) from Queen's University Belfast (2008)
- United States: 45px Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
- Dan David Prize (2009)
- United States: 45px Liberty Medal (2010)
- Kosovo: 45px Order of Freedom (2010)
- United Kingdom: 45px Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (2022)
In May 2007, Blair was invested as a paramount chief by the chiefs and people of the village of Mahera in Sierra Leone. The honour was bestowed upon him in recognition of the role played by his government in the Sierra Leone Civil War.{{Cite web |date=30 May 2007 |title=Tony Blair the African chief |url=https://metro.co.uk/2007/05/30/tony-blair-the-african-chief-427429/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112182252/https://metro.co.uk/2007/05/30/tony-blair-the-african-chief-427429/ |archive-date=12 January 2021 |access-date=21 November 2020 |website=Metro |location=UK}}
On 22 May 2008, Blair received an honorary law doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, alongside Bertie Ahern, for distinction in public service and roles in the Northern Ireland peace process.{{Cite news |date=22 May 2008 |title=Queen's degrees for ex-premiers |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7413956.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115085510/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7413956.stm |archive-date=15 January 2009 |access-date=22 May 2008 |work=BBC News}}
On 13 January 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.{{Cite news |date=5 January 2009 |title=Blair to get US Medal of Freedom |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7812582.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108151249/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7812582.stm |archive-date=8 January 2009 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=BBC News}} Bush stated that Blair was given the award "in recognition of exemplary achievement and to convey the utmost esteem of the American people"{{Cite news |last=Adetunji |first=Jo |date=13 January 2009 |title=Bush gives Blair highest US civilian honour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jan/13/tony-blair-presidential-medal-freedom |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905170401/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jan/13/tony-blair-presidential-medal-freedom |archive-date=5 September 2013 |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London}} and cited Blair's support for the War on Terror and his role in achieving peace in Northern Ireland as two reasons for justifying his being presented with the award.{{Cite news |last=Hines |first=Nico |date=13 January 2009 |title=President Bush awards Tony Blair Presidential Medal of Freedom |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/president-bush-awards-tony-blair-presidential-medal-of-freedom-7phnk5vnwv5 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912000455/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/president-bush-awards-tony-blair-presidential-medal-of-freedom-7phnk5vnwv5 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |work=The Times}}
On 16 February 2009, Blair was awarded the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University for "exceptional leadership and steadfast determination in helping to engineer agreements and forge lasting solutions to areas in conflict". He was awarded the prize in May 2009.{{Cite web |date=17 February 2009 |title=Blair wins Dan David Prize |url=http://jta.org/news/article/2009/02/17/1003041/blair-is-dan-david-prize-winner |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126112649/http://jta.org/news/article/2009/02/17/1003041/blair-is-dan-david-prize-winner |archive-date=26 November 2010 |access-date=20 April 2010 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{Cite web |title=Blair's peace-broker prize surreal, say anti-war campaigners |url=http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/110/article_2916.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202032020/http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/110/article_2916.asp |archive-date=2 December 2010 |access-date=20 April 2010 |publisher=Radio France Internationale}}{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Rory |date=17 May 2009 |title=Blair awarded $1m prize for international relations work |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/may/18/tony-blair-israeli-award |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223155956/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/may/18/tony-blair-israeli-award |archive-date=23 December 2023 |access-date=21 February 2024 |website=The Guardian}}
On 8 July 2010, Blair was awarded the Order of Freedom by President Fatmir Sejdiu of Kosovo.{{Cite web |title=President Sejdiu gives the Golden Medal of Freedom to Prime Minister Blair |url=http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,1236#.ViG925_arqA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140428/http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,1236#.ViG925_arqA |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=26 May 2020 |website=president-ksgov.net}} As Blair is considered to have been instrumental in ending the conflict in Kosovo, some boys born in the country following the war have been given the name Toni or Tonibler.{{Cite news |date=9 July 2010 |title=Namesakes welcome Tony Blair during Kosovo visit |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10576544 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117074318/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10576544 |archive-date=17 November 2011 |access-date=4 January 2012 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite web |last=Chu |first=Ben |date=10 July 2010 |title=Named after Tony in the land where Blair is king |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/named-after-tony-in-the-land-where-blair-is-king-2023127.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706111548/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/named-after-tony-in-the-land-where-blair-is-king-2023127.html |archive-date=6 July 2022 |access-date=12 January 2024 |website=The Independent}}
On 13 September 2010, Blair was awarded the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.{{Cite news |last=Tran |first=Mark |date=14 September 2010 |title=Liberty medal awarded to Tony Blair |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/14/tony-blair-awarded-liberty-medal-philadelphia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916231110/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/14/tony-blair-awarded-liberty-medal-philadelphia |archive-date=16 September 2013 |access-date=2 May 2013 |work=The Guardian}} It was presented by former president Bill Clinton, and is awarded annually to "men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe".{{Cite web |title=Liberty Medal |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/liberty-medal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415022704/https://constitutioncenter.org/liberty-medal/ |archive-date=15 April 2021 |access-date=11 April 2021 |publisher=National Constitution Center}}
On 31 December 2021, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had appointed Blair a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG).{{Cite web |date=31 December 2021 |title=Blair becomes 'Sir Tony' and joins top royal order |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59841419 |access-date=31 December 2021 |website=BBC News}}{{Cite web |last= |date=31 December 2021 |title=New Appointments to the Order of the Garter announced |url=https://www.royal.uk/new-appointments-order-garter-announced-0 |access-date=1 January 2022 |website=royal.uk |publisher=The British Monarchy |quote=and The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.}} Blair had reportedly indicated when he left office that he did not want the traditional knighthood or peerage bestowed on former prime ministers.{{Cite news |last=Kite |first=Melissa |date=30 December 2007 |title=Tony Blair spurns honours system |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/1574027/Tony-Blair-spurns-honour-system.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715052444/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/1574027/Tony-Blair-spurns-honour-system.html |archive-date=15 July 2012 |access-date=1 September 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK}} A petition cited his role in the Iraq War as a reason to remove the knighthood and garnered more than one million signatures.{{Cite web |date=7 January 2022 |title=Tony Blair: Petition to block knighthood passes one million signatures |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-59906644 |access-date=8 January 2022 |website=BBC News}} He received his Garter insignia on 10 June 2022 from the Queen during an audience at Windsor Castle.{{Cite news |last=Coughlan |first=Sean |date=13 June 2022 |title=Tony Blair to join Queen's highest chivalry order at Windsor ceremony |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61772917 |access-date=13 June 2022 |work=BBC News}}
Works
- Blair, Tony (2024). On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century. London: Hutchinson Heinemann. {{ISBN|9781529151510}}.
- Blair, Tony (2010). A Journey. London: Random House. {{ISBN|0-09-192555-X}}. {{oclc|657172683}}.
- Blair, Tony (2002). The Courage of Our Convictions. London: Fabian Society. {{ISBN|0-7163-0603-4}}.
- Blair, Tony (2000). Superpower: Not Superstate? (Federal Trust European Essays). London: Federal Trust for Education & Research. {{ISBN|1-903403-25-1}}.
- Blair, Tony (1998). The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century. London: Fabian Society. {{ISBN|0-7163-0588-7}}.
- Blair, Tony (1998). Leading the Way: New Vision for Local Government. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. {{ISBN|1-86030-075-8}}.
- Blair, Tony (1997). New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country. New York: Basic Books. {{ISBN|0-8133-3338-5}}.
- Blair, Tony (1995). [https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/let-us-face-the-future-the-1945-anniversary-lecture-1995/119896 Let Us Face the Future]. London: Fabian Society. {{ISBN|0-7163-0571-2}}.
- Blair, Tony (1994). [https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/what-price-a-safe-society-proceedings-of-the-1994-fabian-new-year-school/119587 What Price a Safe Society?]. London: Fabian Society. {{ISBN|0-7163-0562-3}}.
- Blair, Tony (1994). [https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/socialism-1994/119717 Socialism]. London: Fabian Society. {{ISBN|0-7163-0565-8}}.
See also
- Blatcherism
- Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo
- Cash-for-Honours scandal
- Cultural depictions of Tony Blair
- Parliamentary motion to impeach Tony Blair
- Halsbury's Laws of England (2004), reference to impeachment in volume on Constitutional Law and Human Rights, paragraph 416
Notes and references
Notes{{notelist}}References{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
Sources
{{refbegin|30em}}
- {{Citation |last=Rentoul |first=John |title=Tony Blair: Prime Minister |year=2001 |url=https://archive.org/details/tonyblairprimemi00rent/mode/2up?view=theater |place=London |publisher=Warner |isbn=0-7515-3082-4 |url-access=registration}}
- {{Citation |last=Jefferys |first=Kevin |title=Leading Labour: from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair |year=1999 |url=https://archive.org/details/leadinglabourfro0000unse/mode/2up |place=London |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=1-86064-453-8 |ref=none |url-access=registration}}
- {{Citation |last=Rentoul |first=John |title=Tony Blair |year=1996 |url=https://archive.org/details/tonyblair00rent/mode/2up |place=London |publisher=Warner |isbn=0-7515-1761-5 |url-access=registration}}
- {{Citation |last=Marquand |first=David |title=Britain Since 1918: The Strange Career Of British Democracy |year=2010 |url=https://archive.org/details/britainsince19180000marq |publisher=Orion |isbn=978-0-297-85636-8}}
{{refend}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
- {{Cite book |last=Abse |first=Leo |author-link=Leo Abse |title=Tony Blair: The Man Behind the Smile |publisher=Robson Books |year=2001 |isbn=1-86105-364-9 |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last=Bower |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Bower |title=Broken Vows, Tony Blair, The Tragedy of Power |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-571-31422-5 |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last1=Beckett |first1=F. |url=https://archive.org/details/blairstheircourt0000beck |title=The Blairs and Their Court |last2=Hencke |first2=D. |publisher=Aurum Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-84513-024-3 |ref=none}}
- Bennister, Mark. "The oratory of Tony Blair." in Labour orators from Bevan to Miliband (Manchester University Press, 2016) pp. 156–171.
- Carr, Richard. March of the Moderates: Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and the Rebirth of Progressive Politics (Bloomsbury, 2019).
- Cook, Jonathan. "Tony Blair-s Tangled Web: The Quartet Representative and the Peace Process." Journal of Palestine Studies 42.2 (2013): 43–60; argues Blair sought rapid self-enrichment and did little for Palestinian state-building).
- Davis, Jon, and John Rentoul. "Heroes Or Villains? The Blair Government Reconsidered" (Oxford University Press, 2019) [https://books.google.com/books?id=TMKKDwAAQBAJ&dq=tony+blair&pg=PP1 online]
- {{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Jon |title=Heroes or Villains? The Blair Government Reconsidered |last2=Rentoul |first2=John |author-link2=John Rentoul |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-960885-0 |location=Oxford |ref=none}}
- Ellison, James. "Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Tony Blair: The Search for Order." in The Palgrave Handbook of Presidents and Prime Ministers From Cleveland and Salisbury to Trump and Johnson (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022) pp. 319–346.
- Garland, Ruth. "From Blair to Cameron and Beyond." in Government Communications and the Crisis of Trust: From Political Spin to Post-truth (2021): 51–67.
- {{Cite book |last=Gould |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood |title=The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers Saved the Labour Party |publisher=Abacus |year=1999 |isbn=0-349-11177-4 |ref=none}}
- Henke, Marina E. "Tony Blair’s gamble: the Middle East peace process and British participation in the Iraq 2003 campaign." British Journal of Politics and International Relations 20.4 (2018): 773–789.
- Ledger, Robert. Power and Political Economy from Thatcher to Blair: The Great Enemy of Democracy? (Routledge, 2021). [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003014959/power-political-economy-thatcher-blair-robert-ledger online]
- {{Cite book |last=Naughtie |first=James |author-link=James Naughtie |url=https://archive.org/details/rivalsintimatest0000naug |title=The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage |publisher=Fourth Estate |year=2001 |isbn=1-84115-473-3 |ref=none |url-access=registration}}
- Pike, Karl, and Andy Hindmoor. "Do as I did not as I say: Blair, new Labour and party traditions." Political Quarterly 91.1 (2020): 148–155.[https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/153220/1/PQ._Pike_and_Hindmoor.pdf online]
- {{Cite book |last=Radice |first=Giles |author-link=Giles Radice |title=Trio: Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84885-445-1 |location=London |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last=Rawnsley |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Rawnsley |title=Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |year=2000 |isbn=0-241-14029-3 |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last=Riddell |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Riddell |title=The Unfulfilled Prime Minister: Tony Blair and the End of Optimism |publisher=Politico's Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-84275-113-1 |ref=none}}
- Rieger, Bernhard. "British varieties of neoliberalism: unemployment policy from Thatcher to Blair." The Neoliberal Age? Britain since the 1970s (2021): 112–132. [https://cooperative-individualism.org/rieger-bernhard_british-varieties-of-neoliberalism-2021.pdf online]
- Ryan, David. "Culture and re-membering the alliance in Kosovo and Iraq: Anglo-American ironies under Clinton, Blair, and Bush." in Culture matters (Manchester University Press, 2020) pp. 243––270.
- Seldon, Anthony. Blair (Free Press, 2004), 768pp; detailed biography. [https://archive.org/details/blair0000seld_l5h8/page/n3/mode/2up online]
- Seldon, Anthony, ed. The Blair Effect: The Blair Government 1997–2001 (2001) [https://archive.org/details/blaireffect0000unse online]
- Seldon, Anthony, ed. The Blair Effect 2001–5 (2005) [https://archive.org/details/blaireffect200150000unse online]
- Seldon, Anthony, ed. Blair's Britain, 1997–2007 (2007)
- {{Cite book |last=Short |first=Clare |author-link=Clare Short |title=An Honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power |publisher=Free Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-6392-8 |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last=Stephens |first=Philip |url=https://archive.org/details/tonyblairmakingo00step |title=Tony Blair: The Making of a World Leader |publisher=Viking Books |year=2004 |isbn=0-670-03300-6 |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last=Temple |first=Mick |title=Blair (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century |publisher=Haus Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=1-904950-73-6 |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |last=Wheatcroft |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Wheatcroft |title=Yo, Blair! |publisher=Methuen |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84275-206-7 |ref=none}}
=Primary sources=
- Blair, Tony. A Journey: My Political Life (2010) [https://archive.org/details/memoires0000blai/page/n6/mode/1up online French translation]
- {{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Tony |title=The Blair Necessities: Tony Blair Book of Quotations |publisher=Robson Books |year=1998 |isbn=1-86105-139-5 |editor-last=Iain Dale |ref=none}}
- {{Cite book |title=Tony Blair: In His Own Words |publisher=Politico's Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-84275-089-5 |editor-last=Paul Richards |ref=none}}
- {{Cite web |date=27 June 2007 |title=Prime Ministers Question Time |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070627/debtext/70627-0002.htm#column_323 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211111806/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070627/debtext/70627-0002.htm#column_323 |archive-date=11 February 2015 |access-date=2 January 2015 |publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom}}
{{refend}}
External links
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource author}}
- [http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/ The Office of Tony Blair] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117211627/http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/ |date=17 January 2012}} – Official website
- [http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/ Tony Blair Faith Foundation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210051759/http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/ |date=10 December 2010}}
- {{Guardian topic}}
- {{New York Times topic|people/b/tony_blair}}
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6625869.stm The Blair Years – Timeline] at BBC News
- {{IMDb name|id=0086363|name=Tony Blair}}
- {{C-SPAN|27133}}
- {{NPG name}}
- {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607025723/http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page4.asp |title=The Prime Minister Tony Charles Lynton Blair |date=7 June 2007}} at www.pm.gov.uk
- {{UK MP links | hansard = mr-tony-blair | publicwhip = Tony_Blair | theywork = tony_blair | record = | bbc = | journalisted = tony-blair}}
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