Transcript Anthony Charles Lynton Blair

ANTHONY CHARLES
LYNTON BLAIR
PRIME MINISTER
 Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May
1953Edinburgh) is a British Labor Party politician who
served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from
1997 to 2007. The former leader of the British Labor Party,
the 73rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997 to
2007).
 The record holder of the British Labor Party on the length of stay
at the head of the party. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedge
field from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labor Party from 1994 to
2007. Blair led Labor to a landslide victory in the 1997 general
election, winning 418 seats, the most the party has ever held. The
party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001
and 2005, with a significantly reduced majority in the latter
ANTHONY CHARLES
LYNTON BLAIR
 Blair was elected Labor Party leader in the leadership
election of July 1994, following the sudden death of his
predecessor, John Smith. Under his leadership, the party
used the phrase "New Labor" to distance it from previous
Labor policies. Blair declared opposition to the traditional
conception of socialism, and declared support for a new
conception that he referred to as "social-ism", involving
politics that recognized individuals as socially
interdependent, and advocated social justice, cohesion, equal
 Blair became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997, serving
concurrently as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the
Labor Party. The 43-year old Blair became the youngest person to become Prime Minister since
Lord Liverpool became Prime Minister at the age of 42 in 1812. With victories in 1997, 2001,
and 2005, Blair was the Labor Party's longest-serving prime minister, the only person to lead the
party to three consecutive general election victories. In the first years of the New Labor
government, Blair's government implemented a number of 1997 manifesto pledges, introducing
the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and
carrying out devolution, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales,
and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
 Blair's role as Prime Minister was particularly visible in foreign and security
policy, including in Northern Ireland, where he was involved in the 1998 Good
Friday Agreement. From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly
supported the foreign policy of US President George W. Bush, notably by
participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair is
the Labor Party's longest-serving Prime Minister, the only person to have led the
Labor Party to more than two consecutive general election victories, and the only
Labor Prime Minister to serve consecutive terms more than one of which was at
least four years long.
EARLY LIFE
 Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953, the second son of
Leo and Hazel Blair (née Corscadden). Leo Blair, the illegitimate son of two
English actors, had been adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James
Blair and his wife, Mary. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George
Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who moved to Glasgow in 1916 but
returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon in 1923, where his wife, Sarah
Margaret (née Lipsett), gave birth to Blair's mother, Hazel, above her family's
grocery shop.
 Blair has one elder brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge, and a
younger sister, Sarah. Blair spent the first 19 months of his life at the family
home in Paisley Terrace in the Willow brae area of Edinburgh. During this
period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law
EDUCATION
 After attending The Chorister School in Durham from
1961 to 1966, Blair boarded at Fettes College, a prestigious
independent school in Edinburgh, during which time he met
Charlie Falconer (a pupil at the rival Edinburgh Academy),
whom he later appointed Lord Chancellor. While studying at
the school classmate of the future prime minister was the
actor Rowan Atkinson
 After Fettes, Blair spent a year in London, where he attempted to
find fame as a rock music promoter before reading jurisprudence at St
John's College, Oxford. As a student, he played guitar and sang in a
rock band called Ugly Rumours
 He was influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson, who
awakened within Blair a deep concern for religious faith and left-wing politics. While
Blair was at Oxford, his mother Hazel died of cancer, which greatly affected him.
After graduating from Oxford in 1975 with a Second-Class Honors B.A. in
Jurisprudence, Blair became a member of Lincoln's Inn, enrolled as a pupil
barrister, and met his future wife, Cherie Booth (daughter of the actor Tony Booth)
at the law chambers founded by Derry Irvine (who was to be Blair's first Lord
Chancellor), 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers.
PERSONAL LIFE
FAMILY, RELIGIOUS FAITH

Blair married Cherie Booth, a Roman Catholic and future Queen's Counsel, on 29 March 1980. They have
four children: Euan, Nicholas, Kathryn, and Leo. Leo, delivered by the Royal Surgeon/Gynecologist Marcus
Setchell, 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. Blair was criticized when it was discovered that one
child had received private tuition from staff at Westminster School. All four children have Irish passports, by
virtue of Blair's mother, Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscaden (1923-1975).

The family's primary residence is in Connaught Square Religious faith. Blair has the Christian faith. Blair
often read the Bible before taking any important decisions. 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.
CHARITY
 On 14 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." On 30 May 2008, Blair launched the
Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a vehicle for encouraging
different faiths to join together in promoting respect and
understanding, as well as working to tackle poverty. "The
EARLY POLITICAL
CAREER
 Blair joined the Labor Party shortly after graduating from
Oxford in 1975. During the early 1980s, he was involved in
Labor politics in Hackney South and Shoreditch, where he
aligned himself with the "soft left" of the party. In 1982 Blair
was selected as the Labor candidate in the safe Conservative
seat of Beaconsfield, where there was a forthcoming byelection. Although Blair lost the Beaconsfield by-election
(the only election he lost in his 25-year political career) and
he lost 10% of the vote, he acquired a profile within the
EVENTS BEFORE
RESIGNATION
 As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was
accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity
dropped dramatically. Labor party's overall majority in the
2005 general election was reduced to 66. As a combined
result of the Blair-Brown pact, Iraq war and low approval
ratings, pressure built up within the Labor party for Blair to
resign. On 7 September 2006, Blair publicly stated he would
step down as party leader by the time of the Trades Union
Congress (TUC) conference held 10–13 September 2007,
 At a special party conference in Manchester on 24 June 2007, he formally
handed over the leadership of the Labor Party to Gordon Brown, who had been
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Blair tendered his resignation on 27 June 2007 and
Brown assumed office the same afternoon. Blair also resigned his seat in the House
of Commons in the traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern
Hundreds, to which he was appointed by Gordon Brown in one of the latter's last
acts as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The resulting Sedge field by-election was won
by Labors’ candidate, Phil Wilson. Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation
Honors, making him the first Prime Minister of the modern era not to do so.
RELATIONSHIP
WITH THE UNITED
STATES
 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. Bush lauded Blair and the UK. The alliance
between Bush and Blair seriously damaged Blair's standing in the eyes
of many British people. Blair argued it is in Britain's interest to "protect
and strengthen the bond" with the United States regardless of who is in
the White House. However, a perception of one-sided compromising
personal and political closeness led to serious discussion.
MINISTERIAL
CAREER
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. 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