Interesting facts

Blair initiated reforms in the House of Commons, modernizing the format of Prime Minister's Question Time.

Tony Blair, the longest serving Labour Prime Minister ever, oversaw the Northern Irish peace process, public sector reform, and the response to the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks.

Tony Blair was born in 1953 in Scotland. He attended the University of Oxford and read law, afterwards becoming a barrister (адвокат). He joined the Labour Party in 1975. Brown was also elected in 1983.

Blair assumed several Shadow Cabinet roles before being made Shadow Home Secretary in 1992. Blair won the subsequent (последубщей) leadership contest (состязание, спор), having made an agreement with Brown that if he did not stand, he would become a powerful chancellor(канцлер) should Labour win the next election.

Blair was seen as a new kind of politician with huge charisma, the finest opposition leader of modern times. It was little surprise when Labour won the 1997 general election. Blair became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997.

Significant (значитедбные) constitutional change happened quickly, with Scottish and Welsh devolution, reform to the House of Lords, the Human Rights Act and a Freedom of Information Act. One of Blair’s biggest achievements (достижение) came in 1998 when the Northern Irish peace process really got underway with the Good Friday Agreement (Соглашением Страстной пятницы). Blair became more convinced (удежден) of Britain’s need to engage, joining the American bombing of Iraq in 1998. Limited military involvement in Sierra Leone in 2000 shored up(подкреплена) the democratically elected government.

Thanks to Blair’s leadership, a healthy economy Labour won the 2001 general election with another landslide ( внушительная победа), this time 167 seats.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks became defining (определяемые) moments for Blair and his legacy (наследство) as he allied (соединился) with the USA and President Bush over the need to confront militant Islamism, first in Afghanistan in 2001 and then, much more controversially, in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq. The case for war in the UK had been built around the widespread belief that Saddam harboured weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which were not subsequently found. This, together with criticism over use of the machinery of government and doubts over the legality of the UK’s involvement, led the previously popular Blair to become a divisive figure. Despite this, he led Labour to a third general election victory in 2005, with a much reduced but still significant majority of 66. The 7/7 London explosions by British-born Muslim suicide bombers led Blair to try to tighten civil liberties, another cause of public division.

In 2006, the Israel-Lebanon war saw a sizeable Labour rebellion against Blair over his reluctance to criticise Israel and his continued support for Bush. He resigned as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007.

Gordon Brown (27 June 2007 - 11 May 2010)

Born

20 February 1951, Giffnock, Glasgow, Scotland

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