subject: A Short History Of Tony Blair [print this page] Tony Blair was the Prime Minister of United Kingdom for a decade, he served for a extraordinary continuous three terms as Labour Member of Parliament for Sedgefield. He vowed to change the focus of the Labour Party image with a view to make it more electable.
Blair was born on 6th May 1953 in Edinburgh in Scotland. He graduated from the Oxford University and began a career as a barrister. He soon became part of a crowd of Labour Party Modernizers after getting elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Sedgefield in 1983.
Blair became eminent when he risked his reputation and personal authority by supporting Americas led War on Terror. After stepping down as the Prime Minister, he was appointed as an official Envoy of Quartet on the Middle East.
Blair wanted to change the image of Labour Party along with politicians Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson with the aim to make it more acceptable to the electorate. They wanted to downplay its relations with unilateral nuclear disarmament, public ownership, high taxation and trade unions. Tony Blair took the position as a Labour Leader after the death of former leader John Smith. After getting elected, he proved as a capable leader and an imposing figure of the Labour Party. Because of him, the party achieved a landslide victory in the 1997 general election. At the age of 43, he became the youngest premier in the Parliament since 1812.
Projecting a modern image of Britain was Blairs vision. He implemented fundamental policies like the constitutional reforms that allowed limited self governance to Scotland and Wales.
Blair moved towards the focus on the traditional emphasis on national industry and union privileges while extending policies to reduce taxes and crime, growth of trade and grant more authority to the regional and state government. He emphasized on family and community values and executed policies where they could prosper.
Implementing the reforms of public services proved more difficult for him and he observed that the countrys dependence on private enterprise did not yield the results he had expected. Education, transport and health care still seemed difficult in this regard.
After getting reelected in 2001, his second term proved more difficult. His image was tarnished because of his strong support to US foreign policy. During the 2003 Iraq War, he persuaded Britain to participate claiming that Iraq was possessing weapons of mass destruction.
When Blair won the re-election in 2005 for the third consecutive term, G8 summit at Gleneagles was the highlights of this period. The summit was chaired by him that that focused on important issues of climate change and conditions in Africa. After a long career serving as a Prime Minister, Tony Blair resigned in 2007.
