Tony Blair


Tony Blair

Portrait of Tony Blair in July 2019
Blair in 2019
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office
2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
MonarchElizabeth II
DeputyJohn Prescott
Preceded byJohn Major
Succeeded byGordon Brown
Leader of the Opposition
In office
21 July 1994 – 2 May 1997
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterJohn Major
DeputyJohn Prescott
Preceded byMargaret Beckett
Succeeded byJohn Major
Leader of the Labour Party
In office
21 July 1994 – 24 June 2007
DeputyJohn Prescott
General SecretaryTom Sawyer
Margaret McDonagh
David Triesman
Matt Carter
Peter Watt
ChairmanCharles Clarke
John Reid
Ian McCartney
Hazel Blears
Preceded byJohn Smith
Succeeded byGordon Brown
Shadow Cabinet positions
Shadow Home Secretary
In office
24 July 1992 – 24 October 1994
Leader
Preceded byRoy Hattersley
Succeeded byJack Straw
Shadow Secretary of State for Employment
In office
2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992
LeaderNeil Kinnock
Preceded byMichael Meacher
Succeeded byFrank Dobson
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
In office
23 November 1988 – 2 November 1989
LeaderNeil Kinnock
Preceded byJohn Prescott
Succeeded byFrank Dobson
Shadow Minister for Trade
In office
13 July 1987 – 23 November 1988
LeaderNeil Kinnock
Preceded byBryan Gould
Succeeded byRobin Cook
Member of Parliament
for Sedgefield
In office
9 June 1983 – 27 June 2007
Preceded byConstituency created[nb]
Succeeded byPhil Wilson
Personal details
Born
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair

(1953-05-06) 6 May 1953 (age 71)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)
(m. 1980)
Children4
ParentsLeo Blair (father)
RelativesWilliam Blair (brother)
Education
Alma mater
WebsiteInstitute for Global Change
n.b. ^ Electorate abolished on 28 February 1974 and reconstituted on 8 June 1983.

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. He was Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. On the day he stood down as Prime Minister and MP, he was made official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East on behalf of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia.[1]

Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the 1994 leadership election following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under Blair's leadership the party abandoned many policies it had held for decades. Labour won a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, which ended 18 years of Conservative rule with the heaviest Conservative defeat since 1832.[2]

He was the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister and the only leader to have taken the party to three uninterrupted general election victories.

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer during all Blair's ten years in office, succeeded him as party leader and Prime Minister in 2007.[3]

  1. "Blair becomes Middle East envoy". BBC News. BBC. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
  2. Kingdom, John (April 2003). Government and Politics in Britain: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Polity Press. pp. 299. ISBN 978-0745625942.
  3. "Brown is UK's new prime minister". BBC News. BBC. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007.

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