| The Right Honourable Tony Blair | |
|---|---|
| |
| President of the European Parliament | |
| Assumed office 14 July 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Martin Schulz |
| Vice President of the European Parliament | |
| In office 17 January 2012 – 1 July 2014 | |
| President | Martin Schulz |
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 5 May 2005 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Deputy Prime Minister | David Miliband |
| Preceded by | Michael Portillo |
| Succeeded by | David Cameron |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 13 September 2000 – 5 May 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Straw |
| Succeeded by | David Cameron |
| Leader of the Labour Party | |
| In office 13 September 2000 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Deputy Leader | Harriet Harman (2001-2004) David Miliband (2004-2010) |
| Preceded by | Jack Straw |
| Succeeded by | David Miliband |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Defence | |
| In office 12 May 1995 – 13 September 2000 | |
| Shadowing | Malcolm Rifkind |
| Preceded by | David Clark |
| Succeeded by | Geoff Hoon |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 24 July 1992 – 11 May 1995 | |
| Prime Minister | Neil Kinnock (1992-1994) John Smith (1994) Gordon Brown (1994-1995) |
| Preceded by | Roy Hattersley |
| Succeeded by | Michael Howard |
| Secretary of State for Employment | |
| In office 2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992 | |
| Prime Minister | Neil Kinnock |
| Preceded by | Michael Meacher |
| Succeeded by | Frank Dobson |
| Member of Parliament for Sedgefield | |
| In office 9 June 1983 – 15 June 2010 | |
| Preceded by | None (Constituency created) |
| Succeeded by | Phil Wilson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 May 1953 Edinburgh, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Cherie Booth (m. 1980) |
| Children | Euan Nicholas Kathryn Leo |
| Parent(s) | Leo Blair Hazel Corscadden |
| Alma mater | Saint John's College, Oxford Inns of Court |
| Profession | Barrister |
| Religion | Church of England (1953-2007) Roman Catholicism (2007-present) |
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2010 and Leader of the Labour Party from 2001 to 2010. He remains the most recent Labour Party leader to have won a general election.
From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield. In 1989 he was appointed by Prime Minister Neil Kinnock as Secretary of State for Employment, and in a cabient reshuffle in 1992 was elevated to Home Secretary, a position he kept during the remainder of Kinnock's premiership, as well as the premierships of John Smith and, following Smith's unexpected death in 1994, Gordon Brown. Following Labour's defeat in the 1995 election, Blair sought leadership of the party, but was beaten in a close race by former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Blair served in Straw's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, and following Labour's second consecutive defeat in 2000, defeated Straw in a leadership challenge, becoming leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons.
Under Blair's leadership, the party used the phrase "New Labour", to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Blair declared support for a new conception that he referred to as "social-ism", involving politics that recognised individuals as socially interdependent, and advocated social justice, cohesion, the equal worth of each citizen, and equal opportunity, also referred to as the Third Way. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism and accepting capitalism. Supporters, including the party's public opinion pollster Philip Gould, stated that after two consecutive election defeats, the Labour Party had to demonstrate that it had made a decisive break from its left-wing past, in order to win an election again.
In May 2005, the Labour Party won a landslide election victory, allowing Blair to become Prime Minister. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blair's government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, the Human Rights Act, and Freedom of Information Act. Labour's standing in the opinion polls declined following the onset of a recession in 2008, leading to poor results in the local and European elections. A year later, Labour lost 87 seats in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election, the party's biggest loss of seats in a single general election since 1935, making the Conservatives the largest party in a hung parliament. Blair remained in office as Labour negotiated to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. On 10 May 2010, Blair announced he would stand down as leader of the Labour Party, and instructed the party to put into motion the processes to elect a new leader. Labour's attempts to retain power failed and on 11 May, he officially resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by David Cameron, and as Leader of the Labour Party by David Miliband.
After his resignation as Prime Minister Blair became active in European politics, and in 2012 was elected as one of the Vice Presidents of the European Parliament, serving under President Martin Schulz, and in 2014 Blair successfully stood for election as the body's president. He won re-election in 2017, and will now serve until 2019.